If not admitting publicly, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) projected Chief Ministerial face Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is once again a sad man over periodical acts and utterances of his senior party colleagues at the Centre.
This time, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely has embarrassed Pradhan in particular and the BJP State eadership in general in their fight against the Naveen Patnaik-headed Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Government.
Even as the BJP State leaders have been targeting the BJD regime over issues of lack of the State’s development and growing corruption in the Patnaik Government, Jaitely, while addressing the Make in Odisha Conclave in Bhubaneswar on Thursday, was all praise for the BJD administration for having recorded an impressive growth in the State’s economy.
And this was not all. Jaitely, despite being known as a promoter of Pradhan in the national politics, chose to drive with Patnaik in the same car to the Chief Minister’s residence Naveen Niwas, and not to a State guesthouse, from the Make in Odisha summit venue in a hotel to have his lunch with Patnaik.
Dharmendra Pradhan, who was earlier prominently seated near the dais at the conclave, was a poor onlooker as the Jiately-Patnaik duo merrily drove on. This was despite Jaitley, in the beginning of his address at the meeting, having referred to only two persons present by name, Patnaik and “my colleague” Pradhan.
Jaitely, who is known in discerning political circles as a personal friend of Panaik, has reportedly been in the act of not distancing the BJD supremo from the BJP on the plea of the regional party’s support on key issues to the NDA Government at the Centre.
More embarrassingly for the BJP State leadership, Jaitely’s pro-Patnaik act closely followed BJP national president Amit Shah’s full-throated attack on the BJD disposition for the State’s backwardness and his call to Odisha people throw the Patnaik Government out and instal a BJP rule for facilitating faster development of the State.
No wonder, Jaitely’s act has provoked the Congress to repeat its charge that the BJP and the BJD, though not in a formal coalition now, are essentially pulling together to serve their respective interests.
Senior Congress leader and leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Narasingha Mishra commented that “Narendra Modi’s BJP and Naveen Pataik’s BJP” are sailing in the same boat and that any public postures on their parts of being strong separate entities are just to hoodwink people.