Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was very ‘positive’ about various demands of Odisha during his meeting with him in New Delhi on Monday.
Briefing mediapersons after meeting the Prime Minister along with all 24 BJD MPs, Patnaik said he raised a number of demands with Modi, the prominent among them being the longstanding demand for Special Category State status to Odisha, protection of the State’s interest vis-à-vis the Polavaram project and overdue revision of mineral royalty.
The Chief Minister said the BJD delegation also raised the demand for allocation of an additional five lakh BPl cards, Rs 3,100 crore for the State in the next Railway Budget, imposition of a mineral resource rent tax on the windfall profits made by miners and launch of international flight services from the Biju Patnaik airport in Bhubaneswar.
Asked about the possibility of the BJD supporting the NDA Government at the Centre, Patnaik said there had been no discussion or thought about that yet. But he hastened to add that his Government will have a ‘positive and constructive’ attitude towards the Modi Government.
“Our approach will be constructive and positive towards the Government at the Centre,” he said.Patnaik said the question of supporting NDA in the Rajya Sabha, where it does not have a majority, did not come up for discussion during his meeting with the Prime Minister.He said the Prime Minister was positive towards the other demands of the State which included revision of royalties on minerals by a minimum of 15 per cent, special central grants for 2015 Nabakalebar festival of lord Jagannath and inclusion of Sambalpuri/ Koshali and Ho languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.