Odisha's ruling BJD calls Amit Shah political 'Blue Whale' for misleading people, spreading hatred

Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s ruling BJD on Friday hit back at Amit Shah equating him with the ‘Blue Whale Challenge’, a lethal online game, for “spreading hatred” across the nation, hours after the BJP chief termed Naveen Patnaik as a “defunct transformer”. [caption id=“attachment_4023743” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Amit Shah addressing party workers in Odisha. PTI[/caption] BJD general secretary and former minister Arun Sahoo also appealed to the youth of Odisha to “steer clear of the line of Amit Shah as he is a political Blue Whale who misleads people. “He (Shah) is speaking the language of demons.” On Friday, Shah had described Patnaik as a “defunct transformer” and said the people should replace the BJD government for overall development of the state. “Narendra Modi is like a powerhouse and supplies huge funds to the state. But Naveen Babu is like a defunct transformer because of which people of the state are deprived of development,” Shah told a BJP workers’ meet on the third and last day of his visit to Odisha. Accusing Shah of using the language of demons like ‘Ravana’ and ‘Kansa’, Sahoo alleged the BJP has been “spreading hatred” across the nation after coming to power in 2014. On Shah seeking to know from the state government as to what it did with the Rs 4 lakh crore given by the Centre during the last three years, he said, “We are giving one month time to the BJP to give account of how much money the Centre has taken from Odisha and the amount of funds allocated to it.” “The rate of economic growth of Odisha is higher than the national rate of growth and also some BJP-ruled states, including Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh,” said BJD spokesman Sanjay Dasburma, who was also present. BJD Rajya Sabha MP and spokesman P K Deb said, “BJP leaders are blaming us for the Nagada malnutrition time and again whereas such incidents also happen in the states ruled by it, including Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. “Children died due to lack of oxygen in UP,” he said referring to death of scores of children at a Gorakhpur hospital. BJP state vice-president Prithiwiraj Harichandan countered the attack saying, “The BJD sees the lotus symbol everywhere like the demon king Kansa used to visualise Lord Krishna all the time.” Calling Shah ‘Blue Whale’ shows BJD’s lack of political courtesy, he added.