BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Monday slammed BJP veteran LK Advani for maintaining silence over the scandals and scams in Orissa while targeting the Centre on corruption during his Jan Chetna Yatra in Orissa. Advani, who still nurtures prime ministerial ambitions, should not ignore the scams and irregularities running into thousand of crores of rupees in the Naveen Patnaik Government, OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik told this paper. “How can a leader of Advani’s stature close his eyes when it comes to corruption in Orissa,” Patnaik asked, terming his yatra against corruption as “farce”.Claiming that it had no impact on the people of the State as the BJP leader was using different yardsticks to judge corruption, Patnaik said, “A corruption is a corruption.” “But corruption under the Naveen Patnaik Government is honesty for Advani,” the Congress leader said, asking people to judge the motives behind Advani’s yatra. Even State BJP leaders are involved in the coal scam, but Advani has completely ignored these issues, he said. On Advani’s allegation of discrimination by the Centre, Patnaik asked the BJP leader to compare the volume of assistance given to Orissa during the then NDA government and the present UPA dispensation. Advani was a senior minister in the NDA government, what assistance the Centre had given to Orissa then, he asked. On speculation over revival of the alliance between BJD and BJP, the OPCC chief said it would not be surprising if the saffron party again “surrenders” before BJD. “BJP has no ideology. They can do anything to return to power,” Patnaik said, adding the ruling BJD too was scared of the growth of Congress in the State. Therefore, he said both could join hands again.
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