PHULBANI (Orissa): Promising alleviation of poverty among tribal communities within next five years, Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday dubbed both BJP and the Congress as hurdles before Orissa's progress.

Addressing a series of election meetings in communally sensitive Kandhamal district, the ruling BJD supremo said ratio of poverty had come down among tribals and dalits of Orissa during last five years.

"I am committed to the welfare of tribal and dalits in next five years also," Patnaik assured the gathering at Tumudibandha, K Nuagaon, Raikia and Phiringia which had witnessed large scale violence last year in the aftermath of the VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati's killing.

Patnaik was the third prominent leader after BJP's Rajnath Singh and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who held meetings in Kandhamal before the April 16 polls.

While Rajnath Singh and Rahul Gandhi addressed one meeting each in Kandhamal, Patnaik attended at least four meetings.

The chief minister also reminded the people about the state government's special package for Kandhamal announced after the communal violence.

"The state government has launched several welfare scheme on its own resources without depending on the Centre which neglected the state," Patnaik said.

Referring to the recent communal violence which claimed at least 43 lives, burning of hundreds of houses and attack on churches, Patnaik alleged that the BJP was trying to create disturbance in the state.

"Therefore, we have severed ties with the BJP," Patnaik said in a bid to erase communal tag on his party made in the wake of the anti-Christian riot.

The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been campaigning against Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, saying he doesn’t know the state’s language Oriya - a charge rubbished by the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD).

Ever since Patnaik entered politics in 1997, his rivals in the state have criticised him for not being able to speak Oriya fluently or write in the state’s official language.

Patnaik, who heads the ruling BJD, usually reads out his Oriya speeches from an English script, but he does know how to sign his name in Oriya.

“How can a man rule the state without knowing his mother tongue?” Bhakta Charan Das, one of the working presidents of the Orissa unit of the Congress, told IANS, adding that his party would make it an election issue.

But the BJD has brushed aside these allegations. Damodar Rout, secretary general of BJD, asserted that Patnaik speaks Oriya and that he is “able to communicate with people in Oriya although he has an English medium background”.

“He may not be able to write Oriya but that is not important. It is not the expression but the emotion that is important for the people,” Rout told IANS.

The BJP - now estranged from the BJD after an 11-year alliance - also said it would make it an election issue, claiming that some of their leaders from outside Orissa had learnt the language.

“Our leader Sushma Swaraj delivered part of her speech in Oriya at a public meeting here on March 16,” said Nayan Kishor Mohanty, BJP spokesperson in Orissa.

“She learnt the language within a few hours. But Naveen Patnaik failed to learn it even after being chief minister of the state for nine long years,” Mohanty said.

“We will distribute Sushma Swaraj’s Oriya speech to the voters,” he added.

Patnaik, the son of former chief minister Biju Patnaik, was born in Cuttack. After studying in the prestigious Doon School in Dehradun, he graduated from Delhi University in 1967.

Bhubaneshwar, March 18 : Having already deserted its old friend Bharatiya Janata Party just ahead of Lok Sabha elections, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Tuesday accused the BJP of attempting to implement Hindutva agenda in Orissa state.


The Naveen Patnaik-led BJD cherished political relations with Hindutva–minded BJP for nearly a decade in Orissa.
Revealing the reasons that compelled his party to snap ties with the BJP, the BJD supreme and Orissas chief minister Naveen Patnaik revealed that the relations started getting sour for last six months.
"They (BJP) were creating disturbances for last six months. When government took bold steps to check trouble they started opposing," said Naveen Patnaik told an election rally at Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.
"BJP tried to implement its Hindutva agenda in Orissa after realising that its vote base was declining. This was not acceptable to us," said BJD MP Pyari Mohan Mohaptra, considered to be the main strategist of Patnaik.
Claiming that BJD was not responsible for the break up of the alliance, Mohapatra alleged that BJP had made up its mind earlier to quit coalition to pursue its ‘communal aganda’.
"I am not responsible for the break up. I just placed the real picture before the BJD supremo on the dismal performance of the saffron party which was supposed to go to polls under Naveen Patnaik’s leadership," he said.
Mohapatra, often blamed by BJP leaders for the break-up, said the saffron party had no option but to work on its ‘Hindutva agenda’ to save its vote base.
The bureaucrat-turned-politician commented that BJP’s popularity graph could be gauged from its poor show in recent civic polls.

Bhubaneswar Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday said that his party BJD will not support either a Congress-led or a BJP-led government after Lok Sabha poll but appeared to keep open the option of aligning with the Third Front.
"BJD will not support either a Congress-led or a BJP-led government", Patnaik said when asked what will be his party's stand after the poll.
He said "it is also premature to say anything on the possibility of BJD joining the Third Front" and added a clear picture would emerge after completion of the general elections.
Though BJD has snapped ties with BJP and NDA, Patnaik had earlier not made it clear whether his party would support the UPA or the NDA after polls.
To a query, the BJD president said he had no aspiration to become the prime minister as "I will like to serve as chief minister of Orissa and work for the people of the state."
Patnaik's statement came after CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan met the BJD chief and requested him to join the Third Front.
On the chances of making Patnaik as the Third Front's prime ministerial candidate, Bardhan shot back "do you think we lack PM candidates?"
Even after meeting leaders of Left parties, including CPM's Sitaram Yechury and Bardhan, Patnaik did not definitely say whether he would join the Third Front.
Bardhan said the BJD president should be given time to take his decision. He said CPI would wait for five or six days to sit for seat-sharing talks with BJD.
"Let the chief minister take his time and tell us when he is free to talk on seat-sharing," Bardhan said adding Left parties would like to have an alliance with BJD after it snapped ties with BJP.

Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's government has survived after clearing a sudden voice vote in the state assembly.

The Opposition is furious with the conduct of the Speaker who reportedly did not allow the debate to continue. Many of them are now marching to the Raj Bhawan.

The debate in the assembly began earlier in the day after Patnaik's government was reduced to a minority after his party, the BJD, split with its decade old alliance partner -- the BJP.

The CPI, CPM, NCP and the JMM, who together have eight legislators, decided to support Patnaik and bail out the government during the floor test. The BJP legislature party had issued a whip to all members for voting against the Patnaik government.

PTI adds:

Earlier in the morning, amidst noisy scenes, Patnaik moved the vote of confidence in the 147-member state Assembly -- four days after the BJP withdrew support to his government.

Moving the motion, the Chief Minister claimed he enjoyed the support of more than 74 legislators and was facing the floor test in the special session on the directions of Governor M C Bhandare.

The trust motion was moved amidst uproarious scenes as opposition Congress stormed the well saying it was being held after announcement of the elections and that the exercise might influence the voters' mind.

Describing the floor test as "violative of model code of conduct", Congress leader Narasingha Mishra said the Speaker Kishore Mohanty should convene a meeting of all political parties before the motion could be debated.

While Congress stand was supported by BJP, the Speaker said there were instances when special sessions of Assemblies had been convened in Assam and Mizoram under similar circustances.

"There is no restriction in convening Assembly session after announcement of poll dates," he said.

The Chief Minister was directed by the Governor to prove his majority on the floor of the Assembly when he paraded 75 of the 147 MLAs of the house before him on March 8, a day after his government was reduced to a minority following withdrawal of BJP support.

New Delhi, Mar 8 : After losing a critical ally in BJD, a shocked BJP chief Rajnath Singh on Sunday said that he could not ‘ever imagine’ that Naveen Patnaik-led party would the 11-year-old ties with the saffron party which is now working on a fresh strategy ahead of the polls.

"I feel it is unfortunate. We could not ever imagine that the BJP-BJD alliance will break down," Singh said. The saffron party accused the BJD of unilaterally breaking the alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the state.

"It was a decision of the BJD to break the alliance. Our party leaders are meeting to chalk out the future course of action," the BJP leader said.

According to sources, the BJP has not given up and the top leadership has activated ‘unofficial channels’ to rescue the alliance.

"The late-night happening was unfortunate. It is not beneficial for both BJP and BJD. Non-Congress vote is sure to be divided but all is not over," a top party leader said.

The sources said that BJP is trying to convince the BJD that the Lok Sabha and the assembly elections under President's rule would be damaging to the Patnaik's party.

The only fear for the saffron brigade is of BJD siding with the Third Front, they said.

Apart from Orissa, the party is slated to discuss coalition developments in Bihar, Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana as it is worried that the Orissa developments could trigger more tantrums from allies like JD(U) in Bihar and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.

L K Advani, who is slated to address a rally in Dehradoon later in the day, would be rushing back to the capital to attend the crucial meet on Sunday evening.

The development is perceived as a setback to the 'Advani for PM' campaign.

Late Saturday night, the BJP-BJD alliance ended after the talks over seat-sharing in the forthcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly polls failed.

The BJP withdrew support from the Navin Patnaik led Government and demanded the imposition of President's rule in the state.

Left supports Patnaik government, hopes to forge alliance

The Left on Sunday came out in support of the Naveen Patnaik government, which was reduced to a minority following snapping of ties with ally BJP, and even hinted at forging an alliance with the BJD for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Orissa.