"Both BJD, BJP responsible for high unemployment in Odisha": Congress chief Malliakarjun Kharge

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], May 16 (ANI): Targeting Biju Janata Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party on "unemployment and rising inflation", Congress president Malliakarjun Kharge on Thursday said that BJD as well as BJP have to be removed from the state and Centre respectively for the betterment of Odisha.
Malliakarjun Kharge said that Odisha's development has stalled under Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's 24-year tenure and the state is suffering through high unemployment and inflation.
Addressing a press conference, Malliakarjun Kharge said, "Odisha is an important state for us. Many of our leaders have come from here. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru ji got support from Patnaik sahab during the independence struggle. Naveen Patnaik has been CM for 24 years. The open fight between them (BJP and BJP) caused a lot of loss to the state. There is unemployment and inflation in Odisha."
"If we have to amend things here we have to change both governments. What development has happened here? A man has served a state for 24 years and yet there is high unemployment. Both BJP and BJD are responsible for this situation in this state," he added.
Intensifying the election campaign for the BJP for twin polls in Odisha, the party's National President JP Nadda held a grand roadshow in Bhubaneshwar on Thursday. He waved at the public and BJP supporters during the roadshow.
BJP has fielded Aparajita Sarangi from Bhubaneshwar against BJD's Manmath Routray. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Sarangi defeated Arup Mohan Patnaik from the BJD.
During the campaign trail, the BJP president slammed Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, saying that the people of Odisha have made up their minds to bring change in the state.
Meanwhile, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader VK Pandian on Wednesday said that the incumbent Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would be sworn in for another term on June 9.
"I understand that three Chief Ministers from BJP-ruled states are here as well as several Union Ministers... They all are trying to give booster doses to BJP! Second dose, third dose, they are trying hard to give a booster dose but I am confident that BJD is winning a three-fourth majority in the Assembly elections and Naveen Patnaik is taking oath on June 9..." he said.
The assembly and Lok Sabha polls in the BJD-ruled state are being held across four phases--from May 13 to June 1. The counting of votes will be held on June 4.
Polling for the first phase was conducted in 28 Assembly seats and four Lok Sabha constituencies on May 13.
In the fifth phase, 35 Assembly seats and five Lok Sabha constituencies will vote on May 20, 42 Assembly segments and six Lok Sabha seats on May 25 and the remaining 42 Assembly seats and six Lok Sabha constituencies in the last phase on June 1. The results will be out on June 4.
In the last assembly elections in 2019, the BJD won 112 out of 146 seats, while the BJP had to settle for just 23 seats and the Congress finished at 9.
In the Lok Sabha elections in the same year, the BJD mopped up the lion's share of the electoral spoils, with the BJP and the Congress bringing up the rear. The BJD won 12 seats, the BJP finished a close second at 8, and the Congress bagged just a lone seat. (ANI)