Dharmendra Pradhan recalls Aal Bihari Vajpayee’s Kendrapada connect

KENDRAPADA: Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday hit out at chief minister Naveen Patnaik over the growing corruption in the state and for not furnishing the list of farmers to the Centre for availing of benefits under its various welfare schemes.
He was addressing a gathering in the seaside village of Japa under the Erasama block of Jagatsinghpur district after unveiling a statue of former Prime Minister Aal Bihari Vajpayee on his 96th birth anniversary.The country also observes the day as Good Governance Day.
Referring to the recent arrest of a senior forest officer, his son and a BJD leader for their involvement in a corruption case, Pradhan said Naveen Patnaik is answerable for all that is happening under his government. “The case is significant because this is perhaps the first time a top official from the state has been arrested. There have been several allegations of corruption against top officials and ruling party leaders, but action has always been restricted to petty clerks, anganwadi workers and others,” Pradhan added.
The Union minister alleged that Naveen and his party, the ruling BJD, have benefited the most from the multi-crore chit fund scam in the state in which thousands of investors were allegedly duped. “Around 10,000 people had died in the Super Cyclone of 1999 in Erasama block. Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister, had rushed to the state to help the cyclone-hit victims. But two decades after the cyclone, the state is yet to finish the repair and reconstruction works,” Pradhan said, adding that BJP had rebuilt the coast of Gujarat within six months of a similar storm.
Talking of the new farm laws, Pradhan said, “They will benefit the farmers, but some opposition party leaders with an ulterior motive have been opposing them. Had the peasants not been convinced about the laws, the party would not have won the elections in Bihar, Gujarat and MP, where a large number of farmers voted in our favour.”
He urged the BJP workers to reach out to the farmers on the ground and inform them about the benefits of the new agriculture reforms.