BJD embarrassed as party leaders blame it for lapses

BHUBANESWAR: The Opposition BJD was caught in an embarrassing situation in the Assembly on Tuesday when senior party leader and Ghasipura MLA Badrinarayan Patra targeted his own previous government over the delay in the completion of the piped drinking water projects in the state.

He also attributed the failure of then BJD government on this front as a major cause behind the defeat of many party candidates in the Assembly elections.

Raising supplementaries on a question by party colleague Souvik Biswal on completion of drinking water projects in the state, the senior BJD member said the previous government had assured that the piped drinking water projects will be completed before the elections. But the delay in completion of the projects fuelled serious discontentment among the people as a result of which many BJD candidates lost the elections. Patra said he had personally experienced this while campaigning in his constituency during the election. Another senior party MLA Ganeswar Behera also put the BJD in discomfiture by saying no action had been taken against contractors for the delay in completion of the projects during their government.