Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Naveen Patnaik, on Saturday, made a veiled attack on the BJP saying that good governance always wins not a "double engine" government that can help a party win election. BJP had made 'double engine' (BJP government at the state and the Centre) its slogan in Karnataka like previous state elections. Patnaik made this comment at the celebration of BJD’s Jharsuguda bypoll win, according to the news agency PTI.
Though he didn’t name the party, Patnaik said, “Single engine or double engine does not matter. From people’s point of view, governance is important. Good governance and pro-people governance always win.”
On Saturday, BJD candidate, 26-year-old Dipali Das trounced rival BJP candidate Tankadhar Tripathy by a margin of over 48,000 votes in Jharsuguda, where the by-poll was held after her father Naba Kishore Das, who was a minister in the Naveen Patnaik cabinet, was killed. Reacting to Pataik’s statement, the president of BJP in Odisha Manmohan Samal said, “The chief minister is now talking about good governance in the state. Everybody knows how the government functions in Odisha.
"He (Patnaik) is also speaking of ‘double engine’ as he is aware that BJP will form the government next time," he claimed.
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Patnaik’s attack is politically important, as the BJP has tried to lure the people of Odisha with accelerated development if the state voted them into power. Statements had been made in the past by both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the state.
Patnaik's comment came after his long silence on the BJP slogan, which takes centre stage in all Assembly elections. The saffron party's loss in Karnataka appears to have provided him the opportunity to speak out against it.
Since 2000, Naveen Patnaik has helmed Odisha, after quitting the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and parting ways with BJP in 2009. His comment came two days after his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Thursday. After the meeting, he reaffirmed his party's policy to go it alone and maintain equidistance both from BJP and the Congress, at least before the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Odisha Assembly poll in 2024.
About 48 hours after meeting the prime minister, Patnaik met Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, who visited him.
According to PTI, when the Odisha chief minister was asked if there will be a Third Front, he said there is no possibility, as far as he was concerned and that BJD will contest the elections next year without any national ambition.