Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will take all the 24 members of lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha belonging to his BJD along with him when he meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday.
This is for the first time that Patnaik has adopted a strategy of asking all his party MPs to accompany him to a meeting with a Prime Minister. Presently, the BJD has 20 members in the lok Sabha and four in the Rajya Sabha while three more RS seats from the State remain vacant.BJD sources said Patnaik would lead the large delegation to impress Modi about Odisha’s ruling party’s seriousness on certain crucial issues relating to the State, which should not be ignored by the new Central Government.
During the discussions with the Prime Minister, sources said, Patnaik is likely to raise the controversial Polavaram project of Andhra Pradesh, besides Odisha’s longstanding demand of a Special Category State (SCS) status.On both these issues, the Modi-led NDA Government appears to be adopting the policy of the earlier UPA Government, which the BJD is considering as anti-Odisha.
Patnaik will also meet Union Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitely on Monday for one-to-one talks. Since Jaitely enjoys a good rapport with Patnaik, they are likely to discuss the BJD’s political equation with the NDA, sources said.