Odisha government failed to accelerate development: Rahul

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday asked state party leaders to raise issues affecting the common man in Odisha as the Naveen Patnaik government had "failed to accelerate development in various sectors".

"Naveen Patnaik-ji has left a huge gap in terms of development index in the state. I told the Congress leaders to raise the issues of hospitals, health care, education and irrigation in the state," Rahul told the media after a meeting of the Odisha Congress here.

Earlier on Friday, the Congress leader trained his guns on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, accusing him of not thinking about the 'posterity' of Odisha.

Rahul Gandhi, who visited the Sishu Bhawan in Cuttack where around 60 infants died in the past several days, maintained that the chief minister did not put due focus on health care, education and other issues.

"Children are the future of the country. There is no scarcity of funds here. You have mines and sufficient funds and running Sishu Bhawan is not a big issue. But it does not get due focus of the state government," Rahul said.

During his visit to the state's premier paediatric hospital, Rahul visited the outdoor and newborn wards and interacted with officials as well as relatives of patients to take stock of the situation.

"I came here for two reasons. Firstly, to see things myself, and secondly, I think my visit also will put pressure on the state government to focus on the crisis at Sishu Bhawan," the Congress leader said.

Later, the Gandhi family scion interacted with a few chit fund victims and slum dwellers at the state guest house here.