Say it equidistance or ‘equal nearness’ towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Tuesday announced its support to the United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi for the vice-presidential election after having already backed the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind.
“The Biju Janata Dal will support Shri Gopal Gandhi as the Vice-President candidate,” party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters.
Earlier, speculations were rife that the BJD might support the NDA’s Vice-Presidential nominee Venkaiah Naidu as it had earlier supported the NDA’s Presidential candidate Kovind.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi, a former West Bengal Governor and Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, and Naveen Patnaik are known to be close friends much before Patnaik entered into politics.
Soon after Patnaik’s announcement of support to Gandhi, BJP State president Basant Panda accused the BJD of having a tacit deal with the Congress.
“Naveen Patnaik has supported Gopalkrishna Gandhi, an anti-national, who had signed the mercy plea of terror convict Yakub Memon. The BJD’s support to a Congress candidate shows a tacit deal between them,” he said.
Congress leader and leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra welcomed the BJD’s decision about Gandhi, saying Gandhi is a better candidate than Naidu as he is not directly involved in politics.