Funds given to Odisha govt siphoned off: Shah
BJP president Amit Shah on Friday appeared quite aggressive against the Naveen Patnaik government in Odisha as he equated it with a “burnt” and “defunct” electric transformer “unable to transfer the volume of power transmitted by the Union government to the state”.
Not only this, he also dubbed the state government as a “nikkama” or non-performer.
Addressing a large crowd of booth-level workers here at Janata Maidan, Mr Shah said although the Union government had given nearly `4 lakh crore to the state under different development schemes and programmes, people could not get expected benefits This BJD govt has turned out to be a burnt and defunct transformer. It is unable to transmit the good governance practices of the Union government to the people living at the grassroots. Amit Shah, as sizeable portions of the funds were siphoned off and or misutilised.
“Under the 13th and 14 Finance Commissions, the Modi government has given `1.32 lakh crore. Similarly, in other schemes, it has given `2.60 lakh crore. Let the Mr Patnaik furnish details about how and where it has spent the money,” he said.
The BJP supremo complained about lethargy in the state administration and said Central programmes and schemes meant for poor and backward class could not be executed to satisfactory level, more because of the “inability” of the political rulers here.
“This BJD government has turned to be a complete burnt and defunct transformer. It is unable to transmit the good governance practices of the Union government to the people living at the grassroots.
“It needs to be removed and thrown into the sea,” Mr Shah said.
Reacting to Mr Shah’s remarks, Mr Patnaik said the BJP president’s observations will have no impacts on people of Odisha.