Biju Janata Dal leader Saurabh Srivastava on Thursday thanked former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik after the BJD chief informed that he would continue as the media coordinator of the party.
"I humbly and wholeheartedly thank BJD Odisha National President and former Odisha CM and my source of inspiration, Shree Naveen Patnaik Sir for reposing his faith in me. I am blessed to work under your leadership and promise to give it everything it takes to match up to the expectations and faith shown to me. Jai Jagannath," Saurabh Srivastava posted on X. Earlier on Thursday, Biju Janata Dal informed that Saurabh Srivastava will continue as the media coordinator of the party. "I am glad to inform you that you continue as Media Coordinator, Biju Janata Dal, in New Delhi until further orders," Naveen Patnaik stated in a letter to Saurabh Srivastava. Earlier, former Odisha Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik criticized the Union Budget, claiming that while special packages were allocated for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, Odisha has been entirely neglected. "BJP had put special category status in their manifesto as a promise to the people of Odisha. However, this promise had not been considered for Odisha whereas special packages allocating crores of funds have been announced for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar," Patnaik said. He added that the Central government during the election campaign, had made big promises for different sectors in Odisha but it did not fulfil any promises. He said, "Along with this, the demand of Odisha for revision of coal royalty which has been pending for years with the Central Government has been rejected. Because of this, the state will lose thousands of crores of revenue every year. Lots of big promises in different sectors were made to the people of Odisha during their election campaign related to the agriculture sector and MSPs. There is no mention of any promise being fulfilled in this Budget. This is a complete neglect of Odisha and her people." Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the first Union Budget of the Modi 3.0 government on July 23. In her seventh consecutive Union Budget for 2024-25, Sitharaman outlined nine key priorities aimed at fostering economic growth and creating opportunities. (ANI)
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