Odisha Congress blames price rise on Modi and Naveen Patnaik

Opposition Congress today staged a sit-in in front of the Raj Bhawan here protesting against the spiraling price rise.

Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) President Jaydev Jena, former PCC chiefs Niranjan Patnaik, Sarat Patnaik and many other leaders assembled near Raj Bhawan with green vegetables and LPG cylinders to vent ire against the NDA government at the Centre and BJD government in Odisha.

They held both the Centre and state responsible for the rise in price of essentials. A delegation of Congress leaders later met Governor SC Jamir and submitted a memorandum on the issue.

"The Modi government at the Centre and Naveen Patnaik government here are both responsible for the situation today. The Modi government has raised the prices of fuel and LPG which has triggered the price rise of essentials," Jena said.

Niranjan Patnaik said, "We have all gathered here to protest against the price rise. The Modi government's general budget has nothing for a poor state like Odisha." Odisha's Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjay Dasburma, however, said it is the faulty policies of the UPA I and II which has pushed the country to a state where prices have gone beyond control.

The BJP too has come out heavily on the Congress blaming it for the economic mess it has created in the last 50 years of its rule which has led to such a situation.