Bhubaneswar, March 9 (IANS) The Orissa government headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has failed on all fronts, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said Sunday at a mass rally in the southern city of Berhampur of Orissa. Addressing a gathering of thousands of people, Rahul, a parliament member from Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, said the state has remained underdeveloped though it has huge natural resources, including many mineral deposits.

The central United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was providing adequate funds to the state under various programs, but the state government was not utilising them properly, he alleged.

Citing the irregularities in the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Gandhi said many poor people told him during the tours he undertook in the state that they were getting less wages.

Earlier in the day, the 37-year-old son of Congress President Sonia Gandhi visited a manufacturing unit of the National Aluminium Co (NALCO), a public sector undertaking (PSU), at Angul which his father late Rajiv Gandhi had dedicated to the nation.

He also met the staff members of the company, their families and held discussions with them.

Rahul Gandhi, who is in the state on a four-day tour since Friday, visited several towns and villages in southern and western Orissa, met a cross section of people and addressed public rallies as part of what the Congress party calls his Discover India trip.

Addressing crowds in different places, he spoke about problems of youths, unemployment, education, poverty and displacement and also discussed welfare of the tribals.

He is travelling by helicopter and by road to villages and towns in at least 13 districts. He will visit the state Congress office at Bhubaneswar Monday and meet party functionaries