Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], May 30 (ANI): Despite acrimonious exchanges between leaders of BJP and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has chosen to keep the cards close to his chest on supporting BJP at the Centre saying they will take “appropriate position,” when needed.
In his first exclusive interview during this election campaign, Patnaik spoke to ANI and exuded confidence in BJD forming the government again in the state and winning a good majority of the Lok Sabha seats.
“Let me clarify that I have never shown acrimony to anyone in public life. And when support is required, we will judge our appropriate position,” Patnaik said when asked if his party will extend issue-based support to the BJP or the NDA at the Centre if such a situation arose.
Asked about whether the fissures between the BJP and BJD had become too deep now to be mended, the Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Patnaik said that he will let the future decide the course of action.
“Let us see what the position will be in the future. That will be the judge of future events,” he said.
Patnaik also exuded confidence in BJD forming the government again in the state and the party winning a good majority of the Lok Sabha seats in the state.
“I see very handsome results in the state elections. We will form a solid government again in the state and in Parliament we will have a very good majority,” he said.
When asked whether he would be the Chief Minister for all five years if BJD comes to power after the election, Patnaik said, “I certainly hope so.”
The BJD leader also dismissed “concerns” expressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his health, saying that he is “perfectly fine”.
Patnaik said that if the PM was so concerned about his health, he would have called him and inquired about his health instead of stating it loudly at a public meeting.
“If the Prime Minister was so concerned about my health, even recently, he said that I’m a good friend of his; all he needed was to pick up the telephone and inquire about my health instead of stating it loudly at a public meeting three times yesterday. My health is perfectly fine. As you can see, I’ve been campaigning for the last month all over the state,” the Odisha CM said.
Patnaik (77) has been serving as the Chief Minister of Odisha since 2000 and is the second-longest serving CM of any Indian state. He is seeking a record sixth term in power in the state.
Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Odisha are taking place simultaneously, in four phases, from May 13 to June 1. The counting of votes will be held on June 4.
In the last assembly elections in 2019, the BJD won 112 out of 146 seats. BJP won 23 seats and Congress got nine seats.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJD mopped up the lion’s share of the electoral spoils, with the BJP and the Congress following behind. The BJD won 12 seats, the BJP finished a close second at 8, and the Congress bagged just a lone seat. (ANI)
Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed of ANI; only the image & headline may have been reworked by News Services Division of World News Network Inc Ltd and Palghar News and Pune News and World News
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