Feel the poverty, Rahul Gandhi urged

Expressindia.com, 5th March,2008

With ALCC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi slated to launch his ‘India discovery tour’ from Orissa’s backward Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput (KBK) region on March 7, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday asked the young leader to feel poverty in the area and report it to the central government.
‘‘I hope he (Rahul) will see for himself the needs of KBK area which we have been demanding for a long time,’’ Patnaik told reporters after returning here from a five-day tour to New Delhi.
Patnaik said he came to know from news papers that Rahul Gandhi would visit many places of Orissa for four-day tour.
To a querry, Patnaik said he was not worried due to Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the tribal dominated areas of Orissa.‘‘People often visit Orissa. And you have seen results for one decade,’’ he said adding he was confident that BJD and ally BJP would return to power in future too.
On possibility of a mid-term poll, Patnaik said all were waiting reports in this regard from New Delhi.
The Orissa government has launched Biju-KBK Yojana for development of KBK region, known as the country’s hunger zone, accusing the Centre of discontinuing the long-term action plan for the poverty-striken area.
Since Rahul Gandhi chose KBK region for launching his countrywide tour from Sinapalli in Nuapada district, ruling BJD-BJP feels it was an attempt to hijak poverty issue.
Besides seeking special category status for Orissa, Patnaik has asked the Centre to fulfill the demand for welfare of poor people of the state and tribals of KBK region in particular.