BJP, BJD at tug-of-war over employment in Odisha

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) engaged in a face-off over job creation in the government sector, with both parties taking credit for about 45,000 jobs provided during past two years.

While handing over appointment letters to 1,326 candidates across nine departments on Monday (August 10, 2026), Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said since his government assumed power in June 2024, as many as 45,408 people have been provided employment in the government sector.

“Investments worth approximately ₹21 lakh crore have been secured over the past two years, which are expected to generate 20 lakh employment opportunities,” said Mr. Majhi.

The Chief Minister also said that during his recent visit to New Delhi, 46 meetings were held with 208 investors, and 38 Memorandum of Understanding were signed.

“These are expected to bring in investments worth ₹66,392 crore and generate 54,135 new employment opportunities. Reverse migration has now begun in Odisha. The State will witness major changes in industrialisation and employment in the coming days,” he pointed out.

The BJD was quick to deflate the claim saying, “out of the 45,000 appointments claimed to have been made in two years, advertisements for 39,000 posts were issued between 2020 and 2023 during the BJD Government. While BJP had promised to provide 65,000 government jobs BJP in two years in his election manifesto, only 6,000 fresh appointments have been made.”.

“The BJP Government has completely failed to fulfil the promises it made during the elections in the field of employment,” said BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty.

“During the 24 months of the BJP government, out of the examinations conducted for recruitment to various government posts, 24 examinations have been cancelled, which demonstrates the government’s lack of capability in handling the recruitment process,” alleged Mr Mohanty.

The BJD further charged that according to government data, as of January 2026, 94,485 government posts were lying vacant. Besides, in the private industrial sector, the BJP had promised to create employment opportunities and provide jobs to 3.5 lakh youth of the State, but this promise turned out to be nothing more than a hollow assurance, it said.

Alleging that after the BJP came to power, the rate of unemployment in the State increased further, the BJD spokesperson said, “while the unemployment rate in the State was 0.9% during the BJD government, it has now increased to 3.5%. Instead of addressing the employment crisis, the BJP government is misleading the people.”