Bhubaneswar: The bonhomie between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik is over with campaign heat rising in the state. Addressing his first election rally in the state at Berhampur on May 6 Modi launched a blistering attack on BJD government and Patnaik whom he had described as a friend during his last visit to the state on March 5.
The Prime Minister not only took a dig at the chief minister’s poor knowledge of Odia language but also threw a challenge to him saying that BJD government’s expiry date in Odisha was June 4, the day election results will be announced. He also invited people to take part in the oath taking ceremony of state’s new BJP chief minister on June 10.
Urging people to give BJP a chance to make Odisha the number one state in the country, Modi said, “Odisha needs a CM who understands Odia language and culture.” Accusing the BJD government, which has ruled the state uninterrupted for the last 24 years, of failing to use the state’s vast resources for its development the Prime Minister said, “You have given 50 years to Congress and 25 years to BJD. Just give five years to the BJP. We will make Odisha the number one state in the country.”
The chief minister, who in the past has always avoided responding to such barbs from his rivals, was quick to respond this time. “ The BJP has been daydreaming since a long time,” he said in a video clip which shows him in conversation with his chief poll strategist VK Pandian who took voluntary retirement from the Indian Administrative Service recently to join politics. Pandian also appeared to have accepted the challenge thrown by the Prime Minister. “Naveen Patnaik will take oath as the chief minister of Odisha for the sixth consecutive time between 11.30 am to 1.30 pm on June 9,” he said looking confident about his party’s victory.
The Prime Minister, who never in the past had made any direct attack on the chief minister, was unsparing in his criticism of BJD government which, he said, has failed to take the state forward despite having tremendous resources at its command. “Give the BJP a chance. The double engine government will take the state forward and make it number one in the country,” he said.
The Prime Minister has made it clear that his party sees an opportunity in Odisha for not only increasing its Lok Sabha seats but also for forming a government in the state. In 2019 BJP had won 8 Lok Sabha seats in the state, marking an increase of 7 seats on its 2014 tally of just one seat. Similarly, the party had won 23 assembly seats emerging as the main opposition party in the state leaving Congress at the third position.
The 2019 performance seems to have raised BJP’s hopes and its leaders who are now going all out against BJD and the chief minister. Patnaik, too, is not in a mood to show any mercy to his rivals anymore. Launching his party’s campaign from Hinjili, his traditional constituency in Ganjam recently, he had alleged that his rivals were trying to block the progress of the state but they will not succeed.
The war of words between the two sides seems to be escalating with each passing day as campaign picks up pace in the state. While the BJP including its topmost leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accused the BJD government of taking the credit for central schemes and deliberately refusing to implement the Ayushman Bharat Yojana in the state, Patnaik’s party has not only rebutted the charge but also asserted that state’s own Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) was much better than Ayushman Bharat scheme. The recrimination between the two sides is likely to dial up with the state set to vote in four phases from May 13.
