The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has strongly rebutted Union Minister for Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s recent remarks on the housing scheme during his visit to Balangir, terming them “completely baseless and politically motivated.”
At a press conference at Sankha Bhawan, senior BJD leaders — former minister and senior vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra, former minister and vice-president Pradeep Amat, and media coordinator Dr Lenin Mohanty — demanded that the Union Minister account for his own government’s performance instead of using a basic welfare issue for political propaganda.
Debi Prasad Mishra highlighted the previous BJD government’s record, stating that between 2014-15 and 2023-24, more than 40 lakh pucca houses were completed in Odisha through schemes including the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana, Indira Awas Yojana, and Nirman Shramik Pucca Ghar Yojana. He claimed Odisha had emerged as one of the leading states in rural housing construction and that a significant portion of houses being distributed today stem from processes and beneficiary selections initiated under the BJD regime.
“Denying the contribution of the previous government and projecting its achievements as one’s own is unfortunate,” Mishra said. He defended the earlier beneficiary selection process, which was based on Gram Sabha decisions and established norms, and dismissed the Union Minister’s characterisation of it as a “scam” as purely political.
Pradeep Amat challenged the present BJP government’s claim of having provided 6.57 lakh houses, calling it “completely baseless.” He alleged discrimination in beneficiary selection and distribution, with complaints that houses are being allotted along party lines. Instead of ordering an impartial probe, he said, the government was shifting blame onto the previous dispensation.
“The BJP’s Double Engine Government, in power for more than two years, must answer how many of its electoral promises have actually been fulfilled,” Amat added, pointing to soaring prices of essential commodities, deteriorating law and order, and failure to ensure women’s safety.
Dr Lenin Mohanty was more blunt: “This is not Double Engine, Double Development; rather, it is Double Betrayal.” He urged Chouhan to stop criticising the previous government and present an account of the current government’s performance over the last two years. He stressed that the BJP must carry forward the foundations laid by the BJD in housing, healthcare, education, and food security, and demanded an impartial investigation into alleged irregularities in the current housing scheme so that all eligible poor families receive houses without political discrimination.
The BJD leaders collectively argued that central assistance to Odisha has declined since the BJP came to power at the Centre, and that the people of the state know who genuinely worked for the poor versus who is merely delivering political speeches to conceal failures.
The sharp response sets the stage for continued political sparring between the BJD and the BJP over welfare delivery and credit for rural housing schemes in Odisha.
