What are the main issues on which the Congress is fighting the elections in Orissa?
Obviously, it is the development of Orissa that is the most important thing for the Congress. The other issue is that of the inept, corrupt and useless government of Naveen Patnaik. Why would you say that? You see in the last general elections the people gave a clear mandate to the Biju Janata Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party combine. They got 19 out of 21 seats and the remaining two were won by me and Giridhar Gamang of the Congress. Before that between 2000 to 2004, the then National Democratic Alliance government gave a huge package to Orissa. However, out of all the promises they made not one of them has been fulfilled including making Orissa a special category state. Now they are blaming the central government when they could have fulfilled this promise when they ruled at the Centre for six years. The present chief minister was then the minister of mines. Now Patnaik is talking about getting higher royalties for the mineral wealth of Orissa, but did nothing when he was a Union minister.
