BJD government 'manages' CBI to save party leaders: Congress

Accusing BJD government in Odisha of having failed on all fronts, the Congress today said its biggest success lay in 'managing' CBI to save party leaders from being probed for their involvement in chit fund scams.
"As Naveen Patnaik government is set to complete first year of its fourth term tomorrow, list of its failures is endless amidst rampant corruption and a series of scams," Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee President Prasad Harichandan told reporters.
"However, Naveen government's biggest success was that it has effectively managed CBI to protect several BJD leaders involved in chit-fund scam," the OPCC chief claimed.
In its bid to manage CBI, the ruling BJD has been keeping the BJP-led NDA in good humour while putting an end to its drama of accusing the Centre of neglecting Odisha, which it always enacted during UPA rule, he said.

Though several centrally funded schemes have been scrapped, the BJD government which was earlier staging demonstrations to target UPA, is now silent, Harichandan said adding even after increase in the prices of petrol and diesel there is no reaction from BJD.
On the other hand, despite having announced a corpus fund Naveen government was unable to refund a single rupee to the poor investors who had put their hard earned money in chitfund companies, Harichandan said.

Similarly, after remaining a silent spectator to illegal mining activities, the government imposed around Rs 70,000 fine on errant miners but not a single rupee has been collected so far, he claimed.

Stating that the state's economy was in doldrums amid a debt burden of over Rs 56,000 crore, the PCC President said though the state government signed some 92 MoUs for setting up of industries, most of the signatories are yet to initiate work for their proposed projects.
While uncertainty shrouds Posco's proposed mega steel project near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district involving an investment of Rs 52,000 crore, several other players have given up their plan to set up projects, he said.
Turning to the Centre, Harichandan accused the BJP-led NDA government of toying with the idea of shifting the engine division of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) from Sunabeda in Koraput district to Bengaluru.

"We will not tolerate any move to shift the important plant from the state. If necessary we will launch an agitation to thwart any such plan," he said.