Bhubaneswar,Feb 26 (UNI) Raising the issue of corruption,crime against women, unemployment, and farmers issue, the Odisha Congress on Monday gheraoed the state secretariat.
Hundreds of congress workers led by party President Sarat Pattnayak and party in charge of Odisha Ajaya Kumar went in a procession from the Congress Bhawana and marched towards the state secretariat.
However, on their way, the police cordoned off the area and prevented the Congress leaders and the workers from proceeding towards the state secretariat.
This led to a tussle between the Congress workers and the police force. Later several congress leaders and workers were taken into custody.
Addressing the Congress workers and leaders, Patnaik alleged that Odisha is the only state in the country where corruption has been legalized by Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik.
The Congress leaders said a few non- Odia IAS officers are involved in looting the state’s resources and running the show in the state. There have been a number of scams like Mining, Dal, Chit fund, Electricity Infrastructure, land Tender, drinking water projects, land, and water cess in the last 24 years
yet no action has been taken either by the Naveen Patnaik government or by the centre.
He said crime against women has increased substantially and Odisha topped in the country so far as the crime against women is concerned. Prices of essential commodities have gone up to more than 200 percent in comparison to 2014 prices.
Farmers are on the street as they are not getting MSP on their produce.
A Large number of youth are unemployed yet the state government failed to recruit the posts which are lying vacant for years together.
Patnaik also came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not fulfilling all the promises he made during the last two terms.
AICC leader and in charge of Odisha Dr. Ajoy Kumar hit at both the BJP and the BJD for looting the resources of the state.
He said 30 lakh Odia people are migrating to different states as bonded labour in search of livelihood.
Stating that the BJP and BJD are two sides of a coin,Kumar said giving votes to BJD means giving votes to BJP.
Kumar urged the people to bring a change in the government in the state and vote for Congress to secure their future.
UNI DP BD