Odisha, Kerala govts failed in fulfilling promises, claims research body

A policy research body associated with the BJP Saturday accused the ruling BJD in Odisha and the incumbent Left front in Kerala of "betraying" the people of their respective states as they "utterly failed" in meeting the promises they made to them.

The Public Policy Research Centre, whose director is BJP vice president and Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, released four reports-- two of which it said were reviews of manifestoes of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Left front, while the other two evaluated performance of the Narendra Modi-led central government.

Releasing them, Sahasrabuddhe claimed the BJD failed to pull Odisha out of its "dlismal situation" despite uninterruptedly ruling it for 20 years and the state continues to languish on several important indicators.

The report said 60 per cent of the BJD's promises were unfulfilled and the areas that registered tangible progress were helped by the central government's assistance.

It added that the eastern state fared poorly on outcomes like social indicators and pace of agriculture growth besides farmers' welfare.

Criticising the Kerala government, Sahasrabuddhe said it is promoting lack of transparency by not providing any progress report to the public to avoid any scrutiny.

Touching on some of the promises made by the Left government, the PPRC said it came out with a programme to double the number of tourists but in reality the figure has declined by 10 per cent.

As much as 83 per cent of its promises remained unfulfilled, the report claimed.

The report credited the Modi government of walking the talk in sectors like industry, manufacturing and agriculture, as it cited various initiatives like make in India, development of 'khadi' industry, "150 per cent increase" in prices of many farm produce and availability of easy credit among others.