NAYAGARH (Odisha), May 21: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is 77 years old, should retire due to his “advanced age and health issues”, while promising that the BJP will make a young Odia-speaking ‘bhumiputra’ the CM if the party is voted to power in the state.
Shah asserted that the BJP-led NDA has already bagged 310 seats after the conclusion of five phases of Lok Sabha polls and will secure its 400-target in the next two phases.
Hitting out at bureaucrat-turned-politician V K Pandian, a close aide of Patnaik, without taking his name, Shah said a “Tamil babu” is ruling the roost in Odisha and people will vote for the BJP to free the state from “babu raj”.
Addressing back-to-back election rallies in Odisha ahead of the third phase of simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls in the state on May 25, Shah said the ongoing polls are to make Narendra Modi the PM for the third term and restore Odisha’s glory, which has been “destroyed” by the Patnaik-led BJD government.
“With the conclusion of five phases of polling, NDA has already won 310 seats. We will achieve our 400-plus seats target after the sixth and seventh phases,” Shah said.
“Naveen babu has made a Tamil officer ruler of the state. Oust the BJD government… we will give a young Odia-speaking chief minister… babus (officers) have looted the state of its minerals. I promise you these babus would be jailed after the BJP forms the government in Odisha,” Shah said.
“If BJP is voted to power in Odisha, a ‘bhumiputra’ (son or daughter of the soil) will rule the land of ‘Utkala Bhumi’ and not a Tamil babu,” he said.
Stating that people now realised that 25 years of BJD rule have become “lost years” for Odisha, he alleged that healthcare system, entrepreneurship, education and infrastructure have “derailed” in the state and only PM Modi can bring these sectors back on the track.
“Naveen babu is not keeping well, as a result of which 1.5 lakh government vacancies are not being filled up. If we form the government, we will make appointments to these posts,” he said.
