Odisha’s BJP govt so far changed names of 25 schemes of previous regime: BJD

Bhubaneswar, Aug 26 (PTI) Odisha’s opposition BJD on Tuesday alleged that the BJP government in the state has so far changed the names of 25 schemes of the previous regime and the new programme announced by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi is one of them.

The BJD, which ruled the state from 2000 to 2024, made the accusation hours after Majhi launched ‘Ama Shasan’, a public service initiative.

Addressing a press conference, BJD vice-president Atanu S Nayak called the "Ama Shasan" an old scheme in a new wrapper as, he claimed, it is a copy-paste of the ‘5T - Mo Sarkar’ governance model, which was implemented by the BJD government in 2019.

5T was a governance model based on teamwork, transparency, technology and time leading to transformation. Most of the departments had been covered under the initiative.

“The BJP criticised this model while in opposition. Now, after 14 months in power, it has reintroduced the same system with only a new name. This shows that the current BJP government has accepted the effectiveness and relevance of that model,” Nayak said.

He claimed that many popular schemes initiated by the BJD government are now being reintroduced under different names, and the government's top priority appears to be repainting buildings completed under the BJD government, rather than real governance.

Nayak pointed out that 24 such schemes had already been renamed earlier, and with the launch of "Ama Shasan", the total number has now reached 25.

He said the ‘5T - Mo Sarkar’ model, was launched by former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Gandhi Jayanti in 2019 and this initiative earned widespread national praise. It was lauded by the central government’s think tank NITI Aayog. The then Union Minister Jitendra Singh also appreciated the model, stating that other states should adopt it.

Even the Good Governance Index of the central government and the Prime Minister’s Office had recognized its effectiveness, he claimed.

However, BJP leaders in the state had previously politicized and criticized it. The BJD sarcastically described it as a case of “changing the name but not the content,” like the saying “Old scheme in a new wrapper.” Senior Congress MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati also criticised the BJP government for spending time on renaming schemes of the previous government and trying to get credit. PTI AAM NN