Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s generous praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan for their support to the state in the aftermath of Fani has triggered speculation about a possible post-poll tie-up between the BJP and the BJD post May 23.
The Chief Minister and his office Monday thanked both the leaders for their gestures to the state post extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani May 3. In a letter to Modi, Naveen thanked the central government for the support rendered to the state to effectively manage cyclone Fani and its aftermath.
The praise of Naveen for Modi came days after Modi hailed the Chief Minister and his government for evacuating over 12 lakh people ahead of the cyclone. During his visit to the state May 6, Modi had said, “Naveen babu has done a good planning. The central government would support and carry forward the initiatives.”
“I must congratulate the state government, the authorities and those involved in evacuations. The work done is commendable. There has been good coordination between the Centre and the state,” the PM had told reporters here.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), in a tweeter post, thanked Pradhan for considering the CM’s request to provide additional 1,000 kilo litres of kerosene for the cyclone-affected people.
“Thank Union Minister Shri @dpradhanbjp for considering our request to provide 1,000 KL of kerosene oil free of cost to #CycloneFani ravaged #Odisha. It would help meet the immediate demand for kerosene oil for lighting purpose,” CMO tweeted.
Such thanks-giving and lauding each other ahead of counting of votes next week came following the bitter fight between the BJP and BJD in four phase polls that ended April 29. During election campaigning, Modi had strongly criticized the BJD government at every meeting while Naveen had also slammed the Centre and the BJP’s national level leaders.
Local political observers feel that Modi is trying to reach out to Naveen Patnaik for a post-poll alliance at the Centre as the NDA combine will run short of seats to claim majority.
Stating that no single national party would get a majority, Naveen had already maintained that the BJD would play a key role in formation of the next government at the Centre. Notably, BJD was a former ally of NDA government at the Centre. Both BJD and BJP had ruled the state for nine years from 2000 to 2009.
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