Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik under House-Arrest, says BJP Leader Giriraj Singh
Bhubaneswar: Union minister and senior BJP leader Giriraj Singh on Wednesday took potshots at Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s “brief appearances” before the public by short video clips and concise public meetings, not extending a few minutes, — by alleging that he was not under “house arrest” and all his activities were now being remote-controlled.
“It seems that CM Naveen Patnaik is under house arrest and a bureaucrat-turned politician was remote-controlling him,” Singh said while holding a roadshow in Sambalpur from where Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan is contesting Lok Sabha polls.
The bureaucrat-turned-politician Singh was alluding to is V Karthikeyan Pandian, a Tamil Nadu-born IAS officer who recently quit his service and joined the BJD. He has been controlling the entire BJD organizational affairs and the state administration. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have also been targeting Pandians in all their poll rallies.
The minister added that the CM had apparently been “abducted” by some people and he was being produced at certain events when required by the captors. Soon after the events are over, he is taken back to his residence, he observed.
“Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik is now 77 years old and wants to make his close aide V Karthikeyan Pandian the next CM by destroying Odia Asmita. I strongly believe that the people of Odisha should oppose this. We want to assure that a son/daughter of Odisha will be the chief minister of the state after forming the government here,” said Singh.
While interacting with media persons on the sidelines of his roadshow, Singh stated that he was confident that the BJP will certainly accomplish the 400 Lok Sabha seats target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Meanwhile, actor Arun Govil of Ramayan fame addressed a massive public meeting in Keonjhar. He appealed to the voters to cast their ballots in favor of local BJP Lok Sabha member candidate Ananta Nayak and the party’s Champua MLA nominee Murli Manohar Sharma.
“Opportunities do not always come for us. Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji is giving us an opportunity to choose our leaders. We must accept this opportunity and elect lawmakers who have a commitment to the society,” he said, exhorting people to cast their ballots in favor of BJP candidates.
