Oppostion Corners BJP Government in Odisha Assembly Over Potato Crisis

Bhubaneswar-The Opposition BJD and Congress MLAs on Monday tried to corner the ruling BJP government in the Odisha Assembly on Monday by raising the issue of the potato crisis in the state.
Raising the issue, Opposition chief whip Pramila Mallick criticised the government for doing nothing to bring the potato prices under control. The BJD MLAs staged a demonstration by showing placards in the House.
Leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Ram Chandra Kadam also slammed the government over the issue. The Opposition members created an uproar and mocked the state government by saying that how long the 300 truckloads of potatoes from Uttar Pradesh last? Hence, the Odisha government should take concrete measures to resolve the potato crisis within two days.
BJD MLA Byomkesh Ray said, “A similar potato crisis was witnessed two to three months and even during former CM Naveen Patnaik’s term as well. However, it was managed well by the BJD government. The concerned minister now is claiming that potatoes are coming from trains and trucks from Uttar Pradesh. There is no actual effort by the minister and the state government to resolve the issue either by importing from West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.”
Ray said that Odisha needs around 300 truckloads of potatoes every day. The people will be forced to hit the streets if the state government doesn’t manage the potato crisis.
BJP MLA Saroj Padhi said, “The statement of BJD MLA that BJP government is not able to manage while it was being managed well by Naveen Patnaik is not correct. In the last 24 years, the previous government bowed down and never tried to increase potato production. Be it potato mission or cold storages, everything was destroyed by the previous government.”
Padhi further said that if West Bengal is not willing to provide potatoes, we are in talks with other states including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.