There is no difference between the BJP and the BJD, Jairam Ramesh said. (File photo)
The BJD and BJP are two sides of the same coin, and the two parties work in tandem at the Centre but indulge in "mock fights" in Odisha, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh claimed.
The Congress will agitate against both the BJP and the BJD when it launches its ‘Odisha Parikrama Yatra' in the state, Mr Ramesh told reporters.
"The BJD and BJP are two sides of the same coin and there is no difference between the two," he said.
Pillorying Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is also the BJD chief, the Congress leader said, “When the prime minister asks the CM to sit, he sits. His MPs also do what the PM says. The two parties work together at the Centre and indulge in mock fights in Odisha.” Congress, he said, will launch the ‘Odisha Parikrama Yatra' from October 31 “to usher in change” in the state. It will cover 2,250 km in about 100 days.
Such yatras are being organised in Odisha, Assam, Tripura, Bihar, Sikkim, West Bengal, Nagaland and Bihar, he said on Sunday evening.
About the Bharat Jodo programme of the Congress, Mr Ramesh said it was needed as the country is witnessing an “undeclared emergency due to the dictatorial approach adopted by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre” BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said Ramesh's remarks point to the “frustration” in the Congress party.
“The BJD is doing what needs to be done in a federal system of democracy,” he said.
State BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan also criticised the Congress, and said Ramesh and other party leaders should first try “to look for the adhesive that can unite the party”.