Bhubaneswar: The BJP national president Amit Shah on Thursday targeted Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, saying the latter had proved “incapable” of bringing progress to the state.
Addressing the newly elected rural representatives here, Mr Shah said the ruling BJD would be chastised by people of Odisha in the 2019 Assembly elections for its failure on all fronts.
“The people of Odisha will overthrow the Naveen Patnaik-led government in 2019 polls as it has failed to ensue minimum facilities to them,” he said.
There is a feeling of change in the air and I've very well perceived it during my current three-day visit to the state," Mr Shah said.
The BJP chief took a dig at Naveen's "love for fly-in-the air" at the cost of the state exchequer and observed that this passion of the chief minister had kept him away from the reality on the ground.
“Naveen loves to fly in the air. He always uses helicopters for short-distance destinations which can be reached within a few minutes. For three days now, I'm visiting various parts of Odisha by road, not by air," said Mr Shah.
Claiming that people of Odisha had joined the BJP's change campaign, the BJP chief claimed that the party was poised for a big margin win in the 2019 polls.
"For the last three days, I'm in Odisha. I have read the pulse of the people. They are with BJP and the BJP with them. Our party will have a big margin win in 2019 polls," he said, reiterating that the party would win 120 of the 147 Assembly seats.
Reacting to Mr Shah's remark, BJD spokesperson Captain D.S. Mishra said the BJP would never be accepted by the people of Odisha for its "audacity" and voters would continue to pose their faith in the leadership of the ruling BJD.
"Everybody is watching the audacious behaviour of the BJP leaders. People of Odisha are peace-loving and they would never tolerate the kind of indecent language Mr Shah has been using to show our chief minister in poor lights," said Mr Mishra.
In the morning, Mr Shah visited Basantapur on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. There, he became a primary member of the party and visited houses of five Dalit families. He also pasted BJP leaflets on the walls in the village.
