BJP will lose its Delhi main engine after polls: Patnaik

Patnaik asked the people of the state to analyse why BJP faced the poll debacle in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Chhattisgarh despite the presence of "double engine" in them.

The chief minister, who is seeking re-election for the fifth straight time, was referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to the people of Odisha to ensure that a "double engine" - a government of BJP in Delhi and in Odisha is voted to power for the speedy development of the state.

Almost all the visiting BJP leaders who visited the state for the high voltage campaigning spoke about the "double engine."

"BJPs 'double engine' is already derailed in the five states and its 'main engine' is going to meet the same fate on May 23, when results of the (ongoing) general elections will be declared," Patnaik said while addressing election meetings at Banki and Badamba assembly segments in Cuttack district.

There was double engine government of BJP in these five states. What development did it bring in them ? he asked.

Patnaik also sought to know from the BJP leadership who was its "Odisha engine" as it has not named its chief ministerial candidate ahead of the state assembly elections.

Simultaneous polling is on in Odisha for 21 Lok Sabha seats and 147 assembly seats in four phases.

Alleging that the BJP leaders visit Odisha only to garner votes, Patnaik said the party remembers the poor in the state only during elections.

He accused the saffron party of conspiring to stop Odisha government's KALIA scheme under which farmers get Rs 5,000 twice in a year to meet their agricultural expences.

"No body can stop KALIA scheme as long as I am alive,"

Patnaik said adding that the farmers will get two instalments on the first day after his new government takes oath.

He criticised the Centre of not passing on benefits to the local people in the coal belts of the state tough the government-owned Mahanadi Coal Limited and NTPC earns huge profits.

Also the farmers have not been given compensation though the PSUs have acquired land for more mines in the state. "The BJP leaders in this coal belt work for the contractors and not for the local people," he said at public meetings at Dhenkanal and Angul.