I’ll fight for rights of Orissa, says Balbir Punj

Orissa BJP nominee for the Rajaya Sabha Balbir K Punj said that he will be the voice of the State at Centre and fight for the rights of the State.Before filing his second sets of nomination papers to the upper house today, Punj told this paper that though the State is blessed with abundant natural resources, it has not met its potential because of the indifference of the Government at Centre.The all-India BJP secretary in-charge of Punjab, Chandigarh and Kerala said he has not experienced any resentment, but love and affection of the State leaders after his arrival here on Thursday.State BJP president Suresh Pujari, leader of the BJP legislature party BB Harichandan and the party MLAs have extended all help in filing of the nomination papers.Punj who was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 2000 to 2006 from Uttar Pradesh said there was neither any opposition from the State leadership to his candidature and nor any demand before the central leadership to reconsider the decision of nominating an outsider.Referring to Chhatrapal Singh who brought shame to the BJP in the ‘cash-for-query’ scandal, Punj said he was aware that the people of the State had not been so happy with outsiders.‘‘I will reverse the trend and do my utmost to win over the confidence of the people of the State,’’ he asserted.