Telegraph : BJD youth wing to launch a state-wide protest

Youths of BJD picks up fight

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Bhubaneswar, May 14: A day after the Opposition resolved to protest against the state’s BJD-BJP government, the youth wing of the BJD today announced to launch a state-wide stir to protest against the UPA’s apathy towards Orissa’s issues. Talking to reporters here today, BJD general secretary and the state’s energy and IT minister Surya Narayan Patro alleged that the UPA government has been harsh towards Orissa. He lamented that the Union HRD minister’s decision to establish three IITs in Orissa, Bihar and Rajasthan, was subsequently changed, “denying” Orissa its rightful claim. He further pointed out to the decision taken by the Centre to not to pursue the plan of an off-campus of Kharagpur, IIT, denying a better future to Orissa yet again. Several mass organisations have already launched agitation against the Congress-led UPA government and staged demonstrations before the Parliament over the IIT issue. Apparently in a bid to seize the opportunity to launch a tirade against the Congress, the ruling regional outfit has decided to raise the bogey of central neglect, political observers believe. Citing other instances of “central neglect” and “step-motherly treatment”, Patro said the Centre had provided a meagre Rs 60 crore to Orissa under the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutkaran Yojana, as against the Rs 300 crore to Uttar Pradesh. Their decision to exclude sparsely-populated regions from the scheme would affect the tribal and backward regions of the states, he rued.