BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) has decided to launch padayatra at the panchayat level from November 14 to 19 as a part of the party’s anti-Naveen Patnaik Government crusade which is reeling under several scams. It will also serve as a counter to the public awareness campaign of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) from September 15 to November 15. A senior Congress leader told this paper that the padayatra will be used for campaigning for the panchayat polls scheduled in February next year. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had already announced several populist schemes keeping an eye on the polls which has put the Opposition parties in a difficult situation. Several Opposition leaders maintained that the bi-cycles for high school girls and Mamata scheme launched by the Chief Minister for pregnant women will have much impact among the rural voters. Congress leaders are of the opinion that the new schemes announced for school girls and pregnant women will have an impact similar to the ` 2-a-kg rice scheme announced by Naveen before the 2009 Assembly elections. The BJD had won a landslide in the polls by winning 103 out of the total 147 seats. OPCC general secretary Arya Kumar Gyanendra said the Congress will focus on the deteriorating law and order situation in the State, failure of the State Government in relief measures to tackle the man-made flood in September and largescale irregularities in the implementation of Central schemes including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Alleging that crimes against women have increased in the State during the last several years, Gyanendra said that this is despite the fact that the Home Department is under the Chief Minister during the last 11 years. Gyanedra alleged that though the Centre had provided hundreds of crores of rupees for modernisation of police force, the State Government has failed to tackle the Maoists who have spread to more than 15 districts and improve the law and order situation.
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