BJD's appeal to elect 21 MPs will create instability at Centre: BJP

BJP today claimed that BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik's appeal to send 21 party MPs to the Lok Sabha would create instability at the Centre.

"Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is appealing to the people of Odisha to vote for BJD and send 21 party candidates to Parliament from the state. However, voting for BJD will only create instability at the Centre," BJP spokesperson Sajjan Sharma said in a press release.

"He wants to create instability at Centre so that he can hide his government's misdeeds," Sharma said.

He alleged that Patnaik wanted a federal government at the Centre as the Supreme Court was likely to hand over the probe in the chit fund and mining scams to CBI.

"Realising that its real face will be exposed in a series of scams, Patnaik urged people to send maximum number of BJD MPs to Parliament to save its skin," he said.

Stating that state-based parties or regional forces did not have national vision and could not come out with a common policy or programme, BJP said the proposal of regional parties, including BJD, to form a federal front would not materialise.

The party cited the instances of the previous central governments led by Choudhary Charan Singh, V P Singh, Chandra Shekhar, H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral and said, "These governments did not last long."