Bhubaneswar, May 21: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik saying that he has 'insulted' Odia pride and was imposing bureaucracy on the state.

He said this while addressing an election meeting in Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency from where Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is contesting the elections. The constituency will go to polls on May 25.

Home Minister Shah in the meeting claimed that BJP has already crossed the 310 seats mark after the end of five phases of polls. He also said the Bharatiya Janata Party will form a government in Odisha by winning more than 75 seats in the Assembly elections.

Launching a scathing attack on ruling Biju Janata Dal, HM Shah said, “Naveenji, you are imposing bureaucracy on Odisha. You have insulted Odia people and ruined Odia culture, self-identity and pride. Can a bureaucrat from Tamil Nadu rule this great Utkal Pradesh (Odisha state)? A Bhumiputra who can speak in Odia language and take forward the tradition of Lord Jagannath will only rule this Odisha.”

HM Shah further alleged that the BJD government has been engaged in destroying the culture and tradition of Lord Jagannath in the name of tourism.

“Odisha government wants to turn the Puri Srikhetra into a commercial centre. Mutts & Mandirs were demolished and the four gates of Srimandir are not being opened. A conspiracy was also hatched to stop the Rath Yatra and it is PM Modi who worked to keep the tradition of Rath Yatra intact,” Shah said.

The Home Minister said that Odisha is one of the richest states in the country in terms of its rich natural resources but the people here are poor. He accused the state officers and bureaucrats of looting the huge mining resources of the state.

HM Shah said that once BJP is elected to power here the mining resources of the state will not be exported outside Odisha and the value addition on the mining resources will be carried out in the state only after setting up of a complete production chain here.

“We want to make an Odisha where not a single youth will be forced to go to Maharashtra, Haryana or Bangalore for labour leaving his wife and elderly parents here. He can get work in his home state. Odisha has a beautiful location, a long coastline, a huge store of mining resources and industrious youths but the state only lacks a Chief Minister who can work hard. Elect BJP to power in the state, we will make Odisha developed with a laborious and energetic young CM,” HM Shah added.

He alleged stepmotherly treatment towards the western part of Odisha by the BJD government.

Speaking on the Ratna Bhandar (treasury trove of Puri Shree Jagannath Temple) issue, Shah said that if the BJP forms government in Odisha then it will carry out the inventory of the ornaments, precious stones and other assets kept in Ratna Bhandar by the Reserve Bank of India and make all the details public.

HM Shah also assured the establishment of a 500-bed hospital and medical college for the labourers at Sambalpur. He also promised to start the study of medical science courses in the Odia language.

The Minister said that all the guilty involved in the Chit fund scam will be put behind bars and the money looted from investors will be returned within 18 months of the BJP forming government in Odisha.

Amit Shah is scheduled to address three more public gatherings at Parjang in Dhenkanal district, Keonjhar, and Lathipada in Nayagarh district.

(IANS)

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