On Patnaik's complain about non-revision of royalty on minerals, the Congress leader said when Naveen was Union minister during the NDA rule, he did little for regular upward revision of royalty.
Both Jena and state Congress media cell chief, Narsingh Mishra lashed out at Patnaik for not introducing mining cess and claimed that Odisha was losing around Rs 10,000 crore per year because of this.
Accusing Patnaik of acting as a puppet in the hands of mine owners, Jena alleged that the BJD chief had also acted as “brand ambassador” of a certain chitfund company whose chief was arrested a few months ago for duping investors.
The Union Minister wondered why the power tariff in Bhubaneswar was higher than most other state capitals though Odisha was a major power producer.
Refuting Naveen's allegation of negligence by the Centre, he said Odisha has benefited most during the UPA rule in health, education and infrastructure sectors.
Pointing out that seven medical colleges were set up in the state, Jena said the AIIMS was set up in Bhubaneswar and substantial funds were released through the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).
Let Patnaik tell how many hospitals the state government had built in the past 14 years, he said.
The Congress leaders also wanted to know how many new government schools and colleges had been opened during the BJD rule and said the UPA government had set up an IIT, Indian Institute of Public Health and National Institute of Science and Education Research (NISER) in the state.
Criticising Patnaik's reference to “Swabhiman” (pride) of Odisha and Odias, they said it was ridiculous on the part of the man who failed to learn Odia language in the last 14 years to speak about pride.
