Though Odisha has many issues with the Centre, Chief Minster Patnaik did not prefer to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who stayed in the State for two days for the BJP national executive meeting recently.
So far, it will not be incorrect to say that the rivalry between the BJD and the BJP is limited to backbiting. What they have done by such guerilla war is they have confused the people of Odisha by their conflicting statistics, be it on Central grant, Odisha’s poverty, development parameters or the Mahanadi issue, etc.
When Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan trains his gun at the State Government, he speaks relentlessly. He raises several issues pertaining to governance-deficit, but it is all confined to media bytes. Hardly does the Union Minister talk face to face with CM Patnaik. He writes letters on a few occasions though.
Naveen Patnaik too has launched a long war against the Centre since the very beginning of his term. He raises the two contentious dam issues such as Polavaram and Chhattisgarh projects on Mahanadi, Central grants reduction, discontinuation of schemes, rice and kerosene quota cut, and most importantly special category status.
Instead of taking these matter to the Prime Minister directly, Patnaik more often than not writes letters. His style of functioning clearly implies that he gives more importance to pen and paper than lively personal meeting.
On the flipside, when these leaders meet, which happens rarely, they behave as if they have no love lost.
During the Make In Odisha conclave at Bhubaneswar, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley heaped praises on the Naveen Patnaik Government and even visited the Navin Niwas for a luncheon meet.
Similarly, on an occasion, when Pradhan and Patnaik were present at a meeting in the city, Pradhan praised the Odisha CM for his simple living and opined that Patnaik was worth emulating.
If that was not enough, Agriculture Minister Pradip Maharathy had a high opinion on Dharmendra for being a dynamic leader of Odisha and he even did not hesitate to call him his younger brother.
Interestingly, while targeting each other, the leaders of the two parties showing a selective amnesia of their honeymoon days, have preferred not to come face to face and when they do, they tend to bury the hatchets and get friendly.