BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik strongly reacted to BJP’s demand for “his graceful farewell” after a video showing BJD leader VK Pandian controlling the movement of his left hand while he was addressing an election meeting at Kendrapara went viral on Tuesday.
“I believe that the BJP which is known to make non-issues into issues, are discussing my hands. This will certainly not work,” he said.
The CM was responding to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who had posted the video on X, stating, “Pandian Babu is even controlling the hand movements of the chief minister. I shudder to imagine the level of control a retired ex-bureaucrat from Tamil Nadu is currently exercising over the future of Odisha.” The video has since been widely circulated by the BJP IT cell including its head Amit Malviya.
In a video message, Naveen said, “Senior BJP leaders including chief ministers and Union ministers, who are visiting the state as guests...we expect them not to use poor language and make false allegations. This is not appreciated by the people of Odisha. I pray to Lord Jagannath that better sense prevails with them.” The BJP failed to form government in Karnataka, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh and the same will be repeated in Odisha, he added.
Depsite Sarma’s continuous attacks, Naveen on the day also expressed his solidarity with Assam, which has been affected by Cyclone Remal. “Concerned to know about the situation in #Assam affected by #CycloneRemal. Deeply anguished over the loss of life and damage to the property. #Odisha stands with Assam in this hour of need and offers all possible assistance to bring back normalcy,” he posted on X.
Earlier on May 24, the chief minister had come down on BJP for spreading lies about his health condition. “There is a limit to the lies that the BJP can tell. As you can see, I am in very good health and I have been campaigning for around a month all over the state,” he had said. Pandian had also called BJP’s campaign on the chief minister’s health condition sub-standard.