V K Pandian (right) and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik (left).
Credit: X/@CMO_Odisha
Berhampur, Odisha: Bureaucrat-turned-BJD leader V K Pandian on Tuesday said the people of Odisha would not like a chief minister who will be remote-controlled by Delhi.
The comment of Pandian, a close aide of Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik, came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that the BJP will select its CM on June 6 and the saffron party’s government will take oath in Odisha on June 10.
Patnaik takes his decisions in Bhubaneswar and not sitting in Delhi, he said.
“The people have been electing Naveen Patnaik as their chief minister since 2000 and they will not like Delhi leaders to select any other chief minister,” Pandian said at a roadshow in Khalikote town in Ganjam district.
He claimed that Patnaik will take oath as the CM for the sixth consecutive term on June 9.
“The BJD has declared Naveen Babu as its chief minister. If you (BJP) have courage, declare the name of your chief ministerial candidate. I am sure, if you name who will be the CM, the party will not get 10 per cent votes in the state,” he said.
Without naming Dharmendra Pradhan, he said a union minister was trying to become the chief minister of the state.
If the Delhi leaders are given the opportunity to select Odisha's chief minister, the state would be pushed to 25 years back, he claimed.
“Let me tell you that Delhi leaders will hold the remote of the state government and all decisions will be taken by someone else in Delhi and not the chief minister,” he said.
Be it flood or drought, a BJP CM will have to depend on the direction of leaders in New Delhi, as had been done during the Congress government 25 years ago, Pandian claimed.
“The people of Odisha are the remote controller of Naveen Patnaik. This is the difference between a double-engine government and the Naveen engine government,” Pandian said.
Lok Sabha and assembly elections will be held simultaneously in Odisha.