By D.N. Singh
Will he or he will not ? This is the bigger poser that stares on the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi . A question from Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik who recently asked if Modi can make it clear that who is the chief ministerial face of the BJP in Odisha.
The grapevine chatters in the BJP circle suggest that the Prime Minister during his visit to Odisha on April 16 may clarify his position on this matter. Although the party here has always looked for the usual alibi for such secrecy, saying that theirs being a cadre-based party there is an inadequacy of such a freedom to name the man as chief ministerial face.
Now all eyes will be on the prime minister as how he handles this question to counter Naveen’s taunting poser. Will the PM answer or not, that must be agitating many minds in the saffron camp today.
This question from the Biju Janata Dal supremo Naveen Patnaik has come up as lump in the throat of the BJP which neither it can swallow nor puke. When, especially, Modi continues to dangle the ‘ double engine’ bogey for power in Odisha and India.
The fact, however, remains that in the BJP in Odisha the Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has somehow managed to remain the party’s poster boy and in an eventuality of a saffron surge in the State, the question may become more difficult . The ambiguities involved in such matters
And now, post the inclusion of few other leaders like Baijayant Panda and Bijay Mohapatra, the inner conflict over the claim for the top post would be more internecine.
