Bhubaneswar, June 07: AICC president Sonia Gandhi will address a rally here today, which is being organised to "expose the Centre's step-motherly attitude" towards Orissa and the BJD-BJP government's "failures", Congress sources said. The rally would also be addressed by AICC general secretary Kamal Nath and secretary Chandan Bagchi, PCC chief Sarat Patnaik said.
Patnaik said the rally would focus on the Centre's "failure" to set up the Rs 12,000 crore oil refinery at Paradip, the foundation of which was laid by the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee three years ago.
The Naveen Patnaik-led coalition government had also failed to pursue the project, he alleged.
He said the Congress would also oppose the initiative to privatise the National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco).
Demanding that crop insurance money be paid to farmers immediately as they had suffered badly due to last year's severe drought, the PCC president said agricultural operations had already been hit as the farmers had no money to buy seeds.
The government had also failed to provide drinking water even as several districts were in the grip of a severe heat wave, Patnaik said.
Responding to the BJP plea that the Congress should plead with the Ajit Jogi government in Chhatisgarh to remove the 25 per cent entry tax slapped by it recently on sal seeds taken to the neighbouring state by producers, Patnaik said the Orissa government should hike the price of sal seed so that the local producers would not feel the need to sale it in other states. Bureau Report