 "Govt's pro-farmer push")
As chief minister Naveen Patnaik made a frantic bid in Odia to connect with a huge gathering here, a horde of BJP supporters played spoilsport, chanting slogans of 'Narendra Modi Zindabaad' and brandishing their party flag to disrupt the BJD cheftain's show.
Patnaik sought to strike the emotional chord with the masses, invoking memories of his father Biju Patnaik and crediting the redoubtable leader to establishing the Paradeep port in 1966. But his half-baked speech in the people's language was punctuated by pro-Modi vibes that rented the air. There were slogans from the BJD camp too, seeking to counter the BJP supporters.
That propaganda and slogan chanting would be the show stealers at this important event of dedication of Indian Oil's Paradeep refinery by Prime Minister Narendra Modi came as no surprise. Indeed, this was a natural corollary to the chain of events over the past week that saw both the BJD and BJP going overboard to pip each other in the propaganda war. Both parties staked claim over their efforts to commission the refinery.
Locals who gathered at the event sought to soft pedal the BJD-BJP tiff. Some touted the clash 'unfortunate' that hijacked the key agenda — the refinery and the economic turnaround of the region it is slated to bring.
"I think the clash between the BJP and BJD is overplayed in the media. We have come here to see the commissioning of a huge refinery. No party should take credit for its commissioning. It's the collective efforts of all that have made this possible'', said Gangdhar Sahoo (52), a resident of neighbouring Dhinkia village.
Nabahuna Moharana, a local BJP supporter, however, said, the credit for opearationalising the refinery should go to the BJP. “Atal Behari Vajpayee had laid the foundation stone for this refinery while he was the Prime Minister. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan has made untiring efforts to expedite this project. And today, PM Modi has dedicated it to the nation", he reasoned.
The tiff between the two ruling parties, BJD in the state and BJP at the Centre, began with a poster war campaign over the refinery. Numerous posters displaying Modi and Pradhan and those of BJD depicting Patnaik dotted the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. Such posters were also conspicous in the small towns leading to Paradeep, the site of the refinery project. There were only a handful of posters showing both the prime minister and the chief minister in the same frame.
In his speech today, the oil minister admitted the refinery would not have been possible without the backing of the Odisha government. But, the scene at the ground level amply belied this claim.
A show of strength is what the BJP and BJD took to for winning people's support. Pradhan's bid to make Modi's show a runaway success with the people through use of hoardings and heavy deployment of vehicles enraged the BJD. The BJD took strong exception to Pradhan's use of his own photo along with the Prime minister's in the propaganda vehicles. In fact, the BJD used its administrative machinery to detain such vehicles in select places.
The BJD-BJP feud took an ugly turn today with the supporters of each party taking to attacking vehicles. Roads leading to the event venue were strewn with broken glass fragments of vehicles. A few places had sights of upturned vehicles.
"The BJP and BJD supporters were on the warpath here. They attacked each other's vehicles which suffered damage. All this is very unfortunate on a day when the state has got a mega refinery", said Rajkishore Swain of Kujang village near here.
BJD supporters in this village said the refinery was Biju Patnaik's dream which his son Naveen has fulfilled. They flayed the BJP for going the extra yard to take credit for the refinery.
The BJD in the past two to three days has released huge banner advertisements in leading dailies to counter the growing mileage that the BJP garnered for the refinery under the stewardship of Pradhan. The BJD invoked the legendary Biju Patnaik and the painstaking efforts he took for this project. The incentives doled out by the current Naveen Patnaik government for this refinery project were also on display on these advertisements.
