BJP forecasts total rout of Congress in Odisha

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Bhubaneswar, April 14: The BJP on Monday said the Congress in Odisha would be wiped out in the ongoing elections and the party claimed that it would form the next government in the state by getting a clear majority.

“We are pretty sure that the NDA will form the government at the Centre under the leadership of Narendra Modi. Similarly, Odisha will witness unexpected results in the assembly elections. The Congress will be wiped out in the state and BJP will emerge as the number one party after the elections,” BJP central leader Arun Singh said at a press conference here.

He also said even if the BJD gets a few MP seats, the people of the state would not benefit as the regional party wants instability at the Centre.

Condemning the attack on the family members of the Congress candidate from Jeypore assembly seat, Taraprasad Bahinipati, - BJP leader Bhrugu Baxipatra who was also present at the press meet, - demanded the resignation and immediate arrest of senior BJD leader and school and mass education minister Rabinarayan Nanda for his alleged involvement in the attack.

BJD STARES AT END, BATTLE LINE DRAWN BETWEEN NJD AND PJD

Congress calm, BJP on offensive as BJD goes defensive

By Our Correspondent / Source: www.indusvalleytimes.com Bhubaneswar, June 7: For Congress in Orissa, the situation remains the same – confusion reigns supreme in the party, crippling the potential leaders to raise vital issues that that may dent into the beleaguered BJD and its leadership. On the other hand, for the BJP, – the erstwhile “most” loyal partner of the BJD, –it’s perhaps the opportune time to rise from the ashes and assert itself in the state’s political firmament. And the party makes no mistake in accurately reading the current state of affairs and does its homework well to lay the foundation for a grand upheaval. Strikingly enough, the BJD that enjoyed overwhelming support of the people all these years on its promise of “clean” and “transparent” governance, now finds itself in a very awkward position. It promised crusade against corruption, but the Opposition is now out to crucify it (the BJD) on the same charge. It pledged good governance, but faces the charge of “misgovernace” or “bad governance.” It promised to protect jal, jamin and jungle (water, land and forest), but faces the allegation of mindless looting the same natural resources. It promised good leader, but questions have been raised about true leader. Where to go from now and how? The BJD is literally caught in catch22 situation. An enviable third term for Naveen Patnaik appears to have been a difficult phase to pass through. Most of the Biju BJD leaders are almost out of the party, while New Janata Dal – [NJD), (“New” may be translated as “Naveen” in Oriya, nothing to do with CM Naveen Patnaik) and Pyari Janata Dal [PJD] (“Pyari” may be translated into “People” or “popular” in English, nothing to do with BJD leader “Pyarimohan”) elements in the party are weighing their own strength to assert themselves in both the party forum and governance. A few seasoned politicians like A.U. Singhdeo, Prasanna Acharya Prafulla Ghadei who worked with Biju Patnaik have kept discreet silence, knowing well their voluntary service was not all solicited to bail out from the present crisis. The party now utterly lacks a credible voice and acceptable face to convince the people it once promised to serve. With the BJD house burning in internal fire of bickering, distrust and intolerance, the future holds interesting developments in store for the party and the possible ripples would certainly have its repercussion on state politics, maintain political observers. The BJP, under the stewardship of crafty Bijoy Mohapatra and Jual Orma, has prepared a blue-print for a grand burial of the “non-political” elements that have “ruined” the state in the past one decade. The party is compiling documents to wage sustained battle against such elements who focused more on self-accumulation of wealth at the cost of the state and common people. The Congress state unit, bereft of unit, stares helpless for an uncertain future. Lack of strong leadership and meticulous planning stands in the way of the party grabbing the opportunity for a return to mainstream politics. Source: www.indusvalleytimes.com

BJP brings 10 serious charges against BJD

By Ratikant Mohanty/ www.indusvalleytimes.com

Bhubaneswar, May 26: The BJP is now out to nail its erstwhile ally the BJD. The party on Thursday brought serious charges of corruption against the ruling BJD headed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
In a booklet titled “Bhrastacharinka Aparadh O Durnitira Kalankita Pharda (criminal acts of the crooks and black-pages of corrupts), the party mentioned about about 10 major corruptions that took place under the present regime in the last few years. The Rs 500-crore scam in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act finds place in the chapter one while dal and mining scams have been place in second and third chapters, respectively.
The booklet was prepared by the BJP chargesheet team headed by central executive body member r Bijoy Mohapatra. The book was released by BJP state president Jual Oram in presence of central leaders like Kiriti Somaya and Santosh Gangwar.
The other chapters deal with issues like diversion of river water for industrial use, farmer suicide, “undue” favour to Vedanta and Posco, water resources department scam, misappropriation of tribal development fund, “illegal” sale of Khandadhar mines and collapse of law and order situation.
Releasing the booklet in presence of Central BJP leaders Sontosh Gangwar and Kiriti Somaya, BJP state president Jual Oram said the party would go to the public to make them aware about the “real” face of Naveen Patnaik.
“After 10 years of drama, Naveen now stands exposed. People have started to see the real face of Naveen who is neck-deep involved in corruption,” Mr Oram said.
Charge-sheet committee chairman Mr Mohapatra, while throwing lights on various corruption charges, said the BJP would soon bring more serious charges of corruption against the BJD leadership.
“The only business of the BJD has to loot money. Almost all the corruption charges that we have placed in the booklet are bigger than the 2G spectrum scam. We will expose the BJD and its leader thoroughly,” he added.
The BJD spokesperson Baishnab Charan Parida rubbished the BJP’s chargesheet saying the BJP was making “baseless” allegations for its own political survival.
www.indusvalleytimes.com

Pandemonium in Orissa Assembly over Vedanta University land deal, missing of file

Ratikant Mohanty
Bhubaneswar, Dec. 6: Deadlock continues to prevail in Orissa Legislative Assembly. The Opposition Congress on Monday stalled the Assembly proceedings protesting the ruling BJD’s “reluctance” to take actions against the government officials who “connived” to acquire Jagannath temple land for the proposed Vedanta University and missing of file of S. N. Das Mohapatra Limited, a mining company.

The question hour business was conducted only for 16 minutes as the Speaker Pradeep Kumat Amat adjourned the House following pandemonium created by the Congress, the main opposition in the Assembly.

Speaking to reporters after adjournment of the House, Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh said the state government was paying no heed to the Opposition’s demand to inform the House as to what actions had been taken following the HC direction to “punish” the culprits who violated forest and environment laws to favour Vedanta University.

“The Naveen Patnaik government seems to have no respect for the law of the land. It even does not care to obey the order of the judiciary. The Naveen Patnaik government is keen to protect the offenders as it has its own share in the offence,” Mr Singh said.

On November 16, The Orissa High Court had declared the land acquisition for the Vedanta University project at Puri as “illegal” and asked the company to return the acquired land to the concerned people, agencies and the state government. Besides, the court directed the state government to take actions against the officials who facilitated the illegal land acquisition.

During the brief question hour business, Congress chief whip Prasad Harichandan raised the issue of missing of S.N. Das Mohapatra Limited (SNML) mining lease file from the state secretariat and sought an explanation from the government on this.

BJP Legislature Party Leader K.V. Singhdeo, while expressing dismay over the file missing, said the government could have deliberately suppressed the file as it was a vital evidence to the multi-crore mining scam.

“The missing of S.N. Das Mohapatra Mining Limited file from the high-security state secretariat is a very serious issue. When the state secretariat is not a safe place, one can well imagine what could be the situation outside,” Mr Singhdeo said.

Meanwhile, a team of police officials from the Capital Police Station went to the mining department office in the secretariat and asked the questioned a few officials about the missing file.