Naveen Patnaik hits back at Narendra Modi, says he insulted people of Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: Almost 10 days after Narendra Modi's claim that people migrated to Gujarat in search of a livelihood, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said that the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate had insulted the people of Odisha.

"What he (Modi) has said is insulting to the people of Odisha. I am surprised that none of the BJP state leaders protested such words," Patnaik told a public meeting in Ganjam district.

"Modi has been trying to divide people in terms of states. This is not acceptable for the country and its people," Patnaik said.

State BJP spokesman Suresh Pujari, however, defended his party's Prime Ministerial candidate and claimed that he did not attempt to insult the people from Odisha working in Gujarat.

"Modiji, on the other hand, has said that the Odia workers have made significant contribution toward economic development of Gujarat," Pujari said.

Modi had said that the Odisha government made people so poor that they went to Gujarat and other states to earn a livelihood.

He had also claimed that there was no block in Odisha from where people did not go to Gujarat in search of work.