VK Pandian, bureaucrat-turned-Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader, on Tuesday said that Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik takes his decisions in Bhubaneswar and not from Delhi. He also said that Patnaik’s decisions are guided by the welfare of the people of Odisha.
“The people of Odisha are the remote controller of Naveen Patnaik. This is the difference between a double-engine government and the Naveen engine government,” he said at a roadshow in Ganjam district.
VK Pandian, who is considered a close aide of Naveen Patnaik, was responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent comment about the Odisha CM. Modi recently said at a rally in Odisha that people have decided to bring the BJP to power in the state.
“June 4 is the BJD government’s expiry date. The BJP is the sun of new opportunities for Odisha,” PM Modi said. The Prime Minister also claimed that the BJP will select its CM on June 6 and the party’s government will take office on June 10.
He said that people of the state have been electing Patnaik as the Chief Minister since 2000 and would not like “Delhi leaders” to select any other CM. He claimed that Naveen Patnaik will take the oath as the Odisha CM for the sixth straight term on June 9.
“The BJD has declared Naveen Patnaik as its chief minister. If you (BJP) have courage, declare the name of your chief ministerial candidate. I am sure, if you name who will be the CM, the party will not get 10 per cent vote in the state,” he said. Without naming Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan, Pandian added that a leader from Delhi was trying to become the CM.
He claimed that the trajectory of Odisha would go back for 25 years if Delhi leaders are given the opportunity to select Odisha’s CM. “Let me tell you that Delhi leaders will hold the remote of the state government and all decisions will be taken by someone else in Delhi and not the chief minister,” he said.
He further explained that a BJP CM would have to take directions from New Delhi be it a flood or a drought, something that was quite common during the Congress government 25 years ago. Lok Sabha elections and assembly polls will take place simultaneously in Odisha.
