By D.N. Singh
What can be best described about the stance taken by the Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik towards the NDA government and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular should not be construed as the opposition camp interprets it. Neither it can be viewed as a parable-like situation such as ‘running with the hare and hunting with the hound’ as few political think-tanks in the state feel.
True to his earlier or pre-election stance, Patnaik means business and he would be with anyone ruling at the Centre who cares for Odisha. So it was not an after thought .
It was a splashy kick-off from the BJD to have supported Modi’s call for ‘ one nation, one election’. Unlike in earlier few occasions when Patnaik chose abstaining from few meetings, this time he remained proactive when it is an issue that relates to the country.
When there were election periods Patnaik never showed any tumbling symptoms and rather he rammed through the Bharatiya Janata Party’s position with challenges given and accepted, even daring the prime minister directly. When he pushed his narratives openly laying many faults at the NDA’s door. That was a battle where any fumbling can come on the way of recovery in politics.
It was almost a cross-fire situation where both BJP and the BJD refused to be pushed back to the wall. Even Patnaik had a tongue-in-cheek jibe at Modi presuming his comeback unlikely and Modi was no less frontal in asking Naveen to pack-up from Odisha.
However, after the polls were over it was all congeniality in between and Patnaik strove well starting with his support during the election of the Lok sabha speaker. Reciprocation from Modi is not hard to guess and even after the recent cyclone the PM not only showed magnanimity in gesture and action but in the past also, from 2014 onwards, the Centre had never indulged in any kind of rampant state intervention towards Odisha.
The entire gamut of the bonhomie between the two is surprisingly free of the entrenched animus between Naveen Patnaik and the sate BJP cadre here which is still found dipped in a hostility and a gargantuan approach. But, in essence Patnaik has always succeeded to demolish the state BJP leaders’ ferocity with his cool and a composed increase in his truck with the BJP at the Centre.
