Call it for the sake of Odisha’s interest or an attempt to escape from the ire of the Central Government in view of CBI inquiries into the scams in the State, the fact remains that the State’s ruling BJD is tilting towards the NDA headed by the BJP.
The BJD seems to be deviating from its leader Naveen Patnaik’s oft-repeated stand of keeping equal distance from the NDA and the Congress-led UPA.Patnaik had been maintaining this stand since the 2009 elections after breaking ties with the BJP, which he described as “communal”. Patnaik during this year’s elections had also dubbed Narendra Modi as “unacceptable” as Prime Minister.
On repeated questions, Patnaik had made it clear that the BJD has not even “thought” about its support to the NDA in Rajya Sabha and on other issues. However, he has never ruled out the BJD’s possible support to the NDA Government.The BJD’s 20 lok Sabha members, at the instance of Patnaik, have already extended their support to BJP candidate Sumitra Mahajan in the election for the post of lS Speaker.
Though the BJP’s State leaders in general are seething in anger over the recent developments in the BJD-NDA relations at the Central level, Modi seems to know well how to run a Government at the Centre under a Federal setup.