Odisha Jan Morcha (OJM) chief and Rajya Sabha MP Pyarimohan Mohapatra on Friday while addressing his outfit’s fourth Samabesh here promised to help the people of the Western Odisha in setting up of a High Court bench here and the shifting of the head office of Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) to Sambalpur.
Addressing a gathering of around 20,000 people from seven districts of western region of the State at the PHD ground of Ainthapali here, Mohapatra said, “If the OJM comes to power, we will bring complete change in the governance.” Each village will work as a gram panchayat which will be the best means to stop misappropriation of the money, he claimed.
Since the meeting was organised in the heart of western Odisha, Mohapatra left no stone unturned to woo the people of the region. He promised for an Assembly session in Sambalpur in a year like other bigger States. “We will also do our best to include Sambalpuri-Koshali language in the eighth schedule of the constitution, if the OJM comes to power,” Mahapatra promised.
Coming down heavily on the State and Central Governments, Mohapatra said that virtually the British rule is still continuing in the State and in the country. Since Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik doesn’t know Odia and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is from abroad, it would not be a mistake to say the continuance of British rule in the country, he commented.
Mohapatra was further very hard on Prasanna Acharya, Damodar Rout, Kalindi Behera and a few party colleagues of the Chief Minister. “When Patnaik came to Odisha after death of Biju Patnaik, these people were saying how did a Jackal take birth from a ‘Lion’ (Biju)? But now they have changed their colours altogether,” he said.
“Neither the State Government headed by Patnaik nor the UPA Government at centre has any sympathy for the farmers as they have turned down my proposal to hike wheat price by Rs 300 per quintal and Rs 200 bonus to the farmers of Odisha on sale of each quintal of paddy,” Mohapatra said. He sought clarification on the expenditure of Rs 200 crore allocated for renovation of the canals in the State.
Many senior leaders of the party, including OJM spokesperson Jajneswar Babu, Harsichandra Nayak, Md Parvej, OJM minority cell member Swarupananda Patra, Mihir Mohanty and Debabrata Mishra were present.
Many people from Baudh district including a former BJP district president joined OJM.
