Bhubaneswar: With hardly a little over a year left for the general elections in 2024, the Capital city today witnessed intense politicking with the BJP and BJD taking to the streets against each other.
BJP leaders and workers held hartal by blocking roads at major junctions including the AG Square, Jayadev Vihar Square, Palasuni Square, Khandagiri Square and Samantarapur Square protesting against the “deteriorating law and order situation” in the State.
Due to the protest by the BJP, traffic movement was affected in the city for nearly two hours.
On the other hand, the ruling BJD staged a dharna in front of the Raj Bhawan to protest over Centre’s discontinuation of distribution of 5 kg free rice per head for beneficiaries under the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) programme.
With closure of the scheme, paddy procurement will drastically go down and the farmers will be deprived of getting the minimum support price (MSP), said senior BJD MLA Debi Prasad Mishra.
BJD leaders alleged that the Centre is yet to release food subsidy dues of more than Rs 14,000 crore to Odisha.
BJD Organisational Secretary Pranab Prakash Das alleged that the budgetary provision for procurement of paddy has been reduced by Rs 20,000 crore for the year 2023-24 in the Central budget.
Later, the BJD leaders submitted a memorandum to Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal over their demands.
Both the parties have decided to continue their protests against each other across the state for another two days.
