Bhubaneswar, Jul 11 (PTI) A day after the Odisha Cabinet gave its nod to a new rural development scheme, the opposition BJP and Congress on Tuesday attacked the BJD government accusing it of misleading people ahead of next year's Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

All gram panchayats in each block will be benefited from the scheme which aims at developing infrastructure, human resources, and empowerment of women and youths, the chief minister said on Monday. A budget of Rs 4,000 crore was sanctioned for it.

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The Congress and the BJP held separate press conferences and alleged that the BJD government is hoodwinking the people ahead of next year's Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

State Congress president Sarat Pattanayak claimed the state government's “Ama Odisha Nabin Odisha” (My Odisha New Odisha) scheme is an attempt to fool the people and get their votes.

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The Congress leader wondered what happened to the scheme “Ama Gaon Ama Bikash” (My village my development) announced in 2018 ahead of the 2019 elections.

“The state's BJD government often announces schemes before elections and forgets them after voting is completed,” Pattanayak said.

He claimed that the provision of Rs 50 lakh per gram panchayat will go to the ruling party.

In another press conference, senior BJP leader Samir Mohanty asserted “Ama Odisha Nabin Odisha' programme indicates that the ruling BJD is veering towards “Naveen's Odisha” from “Biju's Odisha”.

The late Biju Patnaik, a former chief minister and father of Naveen Patnaik, was one of the most prominent figures in Odisha politics

“This is a new game of the government to hoodwink people,” the BJP leader said.

Mohanty also raised questions on the status of various previous schemes of the state government.

“We suspect the new scheme is a ploy to make funds available for BJD workers for the upcoming elections as projects are being awarded without floating tenders,” Mohanty alleged.

Reacting to the opposition remarks, BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said that both the Congress and BJP have become intolerant when the state government is trying to further improve the life of the people in rural Odisha.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)