Cuttack BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab has once again questioned a political act of ruling party supremo Naveen Patnaik defying the latter’s repeated advice to party leaders not to go public on the issues that would harm the party’s image.
This time, Mahtab wrote an article in his Odia daily Prajatantra on Sunday disapproving Patnaik’s act of supporting the NDA’s Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind immediately after getting a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The BJD leadership’s decision would send a wrong message to people since the regional party’s avowed stand is to maintain equidistance from the NDA and the UPA, Mahtab stated.
He said the BJD should have waited for the UPA’s decision on its nominee for the President election to take a final call on the issue.
Mahtab’s view totally reflects that of opposition Congress, which has severely criticised Naveen Patnaik for “trying to appease the Modi Government” by lending support to Kovind’s candidature immediately after the Prime Minister’s telephone call.
Congress veteran and leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Narasingha Mishra has dubbed the BJD’s claim of equidistance from the NDA and the UPA as a “farce”.