BJP President J P Nadda on Saturday said Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik should be “large-hearted” to offer credit to the Centre for its welfare schemes, which were being “hijacked” by the BJD government within the state.
Nadda said he has received reports of the government inserting its logo on central schemes just like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
“Naveen Babu… ‘chhota dil chod dijiye, bada dil rakhiye’ (shun meanness and be large hearted),” he said, urging the ruling BJD to acknowledge welfare programmes of the central government within the state.
The BJP chief also decreased heavily on the Odisha government for not adopting the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, which he said would benefit around 2.40 crore poor people of the state.
Those people couldn’t avail the Rs 5-lakh medical coverage due to the BJD government’s refusal to adopt the scheme, he said.
“It has been two years since the Ayushman Bharat Yojana was introduced, but it’s not been implemented in Odisha. Naveen Babu, please don’t become a hurdle for the poor, who face difficulties in getting proper healthcare services,” Nadda said, addressing the party’s state executive meeting through video conference.
“The government is there to seem after your (Patnaik’s) health issues. But, what about the poor and needy that suffer from different deadly diseases like cancer? I appeal to you to adopt the Ayushman Bharat scheme,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed towards the event of Odisha and has sanctioned several projects for the state and its people, the BJP president said.
“I am informed that the government is taking credit for central schemes just like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) by putting its logo on the housing projects. this is often not fair to deny credit to the Centre, which funds such schemes,” Nadda said.
He further said there have been reports of corruption within the implementation of the PMAY within the state, reiterating that politics shouldn’t are available the way of Implementing programmes meant for the poor.
“We are in politics for many years , but never seen such quite central funding to states to the tune of thousands of crores. The states should also give credit to the Centre for that,” he said.
Nadda said the people of Odisha have recognised BJP’s contributions which is why it emerged because the state’s main opposition party.
“We got 38 per cent votes within the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, much above 21 per cent votes within the 2014 polls.