Reprot by Kishore Dash & Deba Prasad Dash; Malkangiri: With barely five days to go for the panchayat polls, the battle of the ballot has reached a fever pitch here with he Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today attacked the Congress during his speeches in campaign meetings in the district.

During his whirlwind less than one hour tour to the district, he addressed two public meetings at Maithili and M.V-79 and spoke about various welfare schemes launched by his government for the uplift of the poor.

The Chief Minister arrived in Mathili at about 1.20 pm today and addressed a public gathering along with the contesting ZP candidates at the play ground there. Making a vociferous attack on the Congress leaders and Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, the BJD star campaigner he lashed out at the opposition,particularly Congress for doing nothing for the State and tried to project the BJD as the messiah of the poor and Odisha.

During his address at both the places, Mr. Patnaik alleged that Congress was involved in misappropriation of public money and corruption. “Congress leaders are only shedding crocodile tears regarding plight of common mass while the Central government led by the Congress is showing step-motherly attitude towards Odisha's development,” he said. The BJD government in the State is a major catalyst of rural development, uplift of women and downtrodden, which was his father Biju Patnaik's dream, the BJD supremo said. He made the audience remember that he had introduced 50 per cent reservation for women in panchayat elections.

He also highlighted several pro-poor projects taken up by his government without any Central help like Biju Setu, free cycle to girl students and Mamata Yojana for pregnant women. Congress has done nothing for the state and its leaders are busy for attaining self gains, he said. While calling upon the gathering to vote for the BJD candidates, Naveen reiterated the commitment of his Government in development of the State. COTFED Chairman Dambru Sisha, Malkangiri NAC Chairman Dhanurjaya Madkami, BJD Mathili Zone-I candidate, Suryamani Nayak, Udanath Madri(Zone-II),Khairput ZP candidate Padmini Muduli,Malkangiri ZP Zone-II candidate were present in dais during the meeting.

Later, Pattnaik came to M.V-79 by helicopter and addressed the public meeting there. Parroting the same text and same lines unmindful of the implications, the BJD chief also accused the Congress for looting the state exchequer while ignoring the interest of peoples of the state. Launching a broadside against opposition Congress, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here said working for the people of the state was not in the party's history.

The crowd was not so impressive at both the places with only two-three thousand people attended the public meetings at both the places. Malkangiri MLA Mukund Sodi and District BJD Chief Manas Madkami,ZP Candidate Paritosh Sarkar and others were present.

During the public meetings Mr. Patnaik was too cautious about the panchayat election candidates on the dais with him.