BHUBANESWAR: Ahead of the counting of votes on May 23, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) created a flutter by announcing that party supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is a fit candidate to be the Prime Minister of the country.
“The people of India and Odisha want Naveen Patnaik to be the Prime Minister of the country,” senior vice-president of the BJD and Food Supply Minister Surjya Narayan Patro told media persons here on Friday.
Though the statement was made by Patro, political observers believe that it has the sanction of the party supremo. Patro, however, said Naveen should not be the Prime Minister with the support of the Congress as there have been instances of the Congress pulling out the support prematurely.
The BJD’s stand is also in line with what the Chief Minister has said a number of times during election campaign that no national party will get a majority at the Centre to form a government. “The BJD will play a key role in government formation at the Centre this time,” he had said.
Patro also repeated Naveen’s stand that the BJD will support any front, be it NDA or UPA, which protects Odisha’s interests thereby hinting that the policy of maintaining equidistance from the Congress and BJP no longer stands. The Chief Minister had also pointed towards a change in the party’s stand during the month-long campaign for the four-phase elections.
“We will not adopt the equal distance (from BJP and Congress) policy any more. The BJD will support any front which supports Odisha,” Patro told media persons. The regional party, which had a decade long alliance with the BJP, had severed ties with the saffron party ahead of the 2009 elections over a dispute on seat sharing in the backdrop of Kandhamal riots. A BJD-BJP coalition government existed in Odisha from 2000 to 2009. After severing ties with BJP, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had dubbed the saffron party as “communal” and the Congress as “corrupt”.
Meanwhile, the BJP and BJD seem to be getting closer with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah praising Naveen. Naveen had also praised the Prime Minister in a letter for the Centre’s support in handling the post-Fani situation in the State.
The BJD is, however, yet to make its stand clear on the dinner meeting called by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on May 23 to explore the possibility of formation of a non-BJP government at the Centre.