Bhubaneswar: In a unique form of protest against its rivals BJP and BJD, the Odisha unit of the Congress on Tuesday opened a 'paan' shop and distributed free betel leaves, highlighting alleged 'scams' in the central and state governments.
The party put up 'price charts' in the paan shop, with each betel leaf bearing the alleged amount of each 'scam' of the ruling parties — BJD in Odisha and BJP at the Centre.
The Congress' paan shop offered 'Electoral Bond Scam Paan' at Rs 9269.5 crore, 'Farm Loan Scam Paan' at Rs 800 crore, 'Mining Scam Paan' at Rs 9 lakh crore, 'Chit Fund Scam Paan' at Rs 500 crore, 'Housing Scam Paan' at Rs 1,000 crore, 'Plantation Scam Paan' at Rs 15,000 crore, 'Covid Scam Paan' at Rs 40,000 crore, 'Land Grabbing Scam Paan' at Rs 20,000 crore and 'Power Sector Scam Paan' at Rs 15,000 crore.
Speaking to reporters, AICC in-charge of Odisha, Ajoy Kumar said, "We have opened PAANN (Pandian, Amit Shah, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Naveen Patnaik and Narendra Modi) shop because these people have cheated the people of Odisha through various scams."
The Congress leader alleged that both the Modi government at the Centre and BJD government in Odisha are trying to divert the attention of people from real issues such as unemployment and price hike.
So, the party has distributed free paan to inform them about the scams, he added.
Published 23 April 2024, 20:39 IST