Amit Shah slams Naveen Patnaik, sets pitch for 2019

BHUBANESWAR: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah had a hectic and grueling day on Sunday in Odisha as he had a five-phase meetings and consultations with party’s state leaders, zonal secretaries, panchayati raj representatives; booth and ward-level in-charges.

Mr Shah, who has set a target of 120-plus seats for Odisha in 2019 Assembly polls, began his day with a closed-door interaction with the party’s election in-charge in all the 21 Lok Sabha constituencies followed by consultations with state leaders.

In the evening, the saffron party chief addressed a gathering of BJP’s booth and ward-level leaders where he criticised the Naveen Patnaik government saying it had failed to give good governance to the people.

“Of the four lakh crore rupees planned to be given to Odisha under various schemes during the present NDA government, more than Rs 2 lakh crore has already been given. However, development is nowhere in the sight in the state,” he said.

“The Odisha government has squandered the opportunities to develop the state. It has not right to rule Odisha and it must quit immediately,” said Mr Shah. According to senior BJP leader Pratap Sarangi, Mr Shah expressed happiness over the progress made so far. “The party president expressed his satisfaction over accomplishment of some tasks,” he said.