Chief Minister Naveen Panaik’s announcement of the BJD’s support to the NDA’s Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind has been questioned by some political quarters.
An editorial in an Odia daily edited by Tathagata Satpathy, an MP of the BJD itself, said the BJD appears to be a weaker force by accepting the NDA nominee as the State’s ruling party is at loggerheads with the Narendra Modi Government on many issues concerning Odisha’s interests.
Congress veteran and leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Narasingha Mishra also on Tuesday criticised Naveen Patnaik for immediately agreeing to Modi’s request for supporting Kovind’s candidature.
The BJD’s claim of maintaining equidistance from the BJP and the Congress is a “farce,” said Mishra, alleging that the BJD in fact is inclined towards the saffron party.
If Patnaik argues that Kovind is an eminent Dalit leader, why then he did not wait for any other equally deserving Dalit leader the Opposition parties may decide to choose as a Presidential candidate, asked Mishra.
Naveen Patnaik, however, in reaction to Satpathy’s paper editorial, repeated his view that the BJD’s support for Kovind is justified on two grounds that Kovind is a prominent Dalit face in the country and that the BJP had backed the BJD’s nominee PA Sangma in the Presidential election last time.
Moreover, the BJD’s fight against the Centre for Odisha’s interests would continue as before, said Patnaik.