BHUBANESWAR: As the heat of the election rises in the state, the BJP on Monday stepped up its attack on the BJD, alleging Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is being held captive and manipulated like a puppet.
Holding a media conference addressed jointly by five senior leaders - state president Manmohan Samal, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda along with MPs Aparajita Sarangi and Pratap Sarangi, the party raised concern on the chief minister’s physical and mental condition saying the videos released during the election campaign carrying his messages appeared to be artificial intelligence (AI) generated deepfakes.
Panda, the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Kendrapara, said, “The government is now caged. Naveen Babu has been held captive. One man (indirect reference to bureaucrat-turned-politician VK Pandian) is controlling the chief minister. He is the only person always seen with the CM.”
Panda alleged, AI generated pre-recorded videos of the chief minister are being released to give the impression that the BJD chief is talking live to the voters. “The way the video messages are manufactured from a helicopter or his rare public appearances and speeches with his close aide holding the microphone are quite different from actual recorded videos. It seems the person is controlling the speech of the chief minister which is serious. Now, the Odia Asmita is at stake,” he said.
People of the state have the right to know if the chief minister is actually talking to them or the videos are artificially manufactured. They have every right to be aware of his health condition, Panda added.
Union minister and the Lok Sabha candidate from Sambalpur Dharmendra Pradhan responded to BJD leader Pandian’s jibe that Gujarat is still lagging behind Odisha after 25 years of BJP rule, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already given that answer during his last two visits to the state. Pradhan reeled out comparative statistics on child mortality rate, per capita health expenditure and high school drop out rate in Odisha and Gujarat to buttress his point.
“The prime minister has put the BJD government in a dock by asking why the migration is especially high in Ganjam, the home district of the chief minister, and Hinjili, his Assembly constituency for the last 24 years. It is for the BJD to explain who is responsible,” Pradhan said and added, “The PM has set the poll agenda by promising to make Odisha the number one state in the country.”
Asserting that Odisha is heading for a big change, Pradhan said, “I can say this after seeing the voting pattern in the first phase poll.”
Former Union minister and Balasore MP Pratap Sarangi, who is running for the seat again, countered Pandian’s allegation of BJP’s hand in Kandhamal riots saying if that was the case, the BJD government should have released reports of three judicial commissions. “Make the reports public and let the people judge who committed the crime,” he said.