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Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik has dismissed “concerns’ expressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his health stating that he is “perfectly fine” and has been campaigning in the State for the last month.
This is Chief Minister Patnaik’s first detailed interview during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. In the exclusive interview with ANI aired on Thursday, Patnaik, who is seeking a sixth consecutive term in office, sought to downplay PM Modi’s remarks on Wednesday in which the latter wondered if there was a conspiracy behind the “failing health’ of the BJD leader.
Patnaik said that if the PM was so concerned about his health, he would have called him and inquired about his health instead of stating it loudly at a public meeting.
“If the Prime Minister was so concerned about my health, even recently, he said that I’m a good friend of his; all he needed was to pick up the telephone and inquire about my health instead of stating it loudly at a public meeting three times yesterday. My health is perfectly fine. As you can see, I’ve been campaigning for the last month all over the state,” the Odisha CM said.
“And instead of the Prime Minister just picking up the telephone and asking me about my health, he has stated it loudly at a public meeting. This means that all he’s trying to do is garner votes during election time,” he said.
Dismissing allegations made by BJP leaders of VK Pandian “controlling the state”, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said that these are ridiculous and hold no significance.
On being questioned if his close associate VK Pandian acts as a gatekeeper and whether he takes all decisions on his behalf, Patnaik said, “That is ridiculous and I have said it often before. This is an old allegation and it holds no weight.”
On BJP making such accusations against his close confidant, Patnaik suggested that such allegations stem from the BJP’s increasing desperation due to their declining popularity both in Odisha and nationally.”I see it that they are getting more and more desperate, particularly as their popularity is waning in the country,” Patnaik asserted.
Addressing queries about his party’s future leadership, Patnaik assured that the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is focused on serving the people of Odisha. “They see how the party is being run and the party is being run for the service of the people of Odisha and will continue to do so,” Patnaik affirmed.
