Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s five-time Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was ready to forgo his 24-year-old government, but determined to complete the Srimandir Parikrama Prakalpa or temple heritage corridor in Puri, BJD leader and 5T (transformational) and Nabin Odisha chairman VK Pandian said here.
Pandian, the close aide of Patnaik and a bureaucrat-turned-politician, said this Friday while addressing a programme of the International Conclave on Urban Transformation, attended by representatives from 11 countries and 20 Indian states.
“I will take risk, I will forgo my government, but I will get this (project) done,” Pandian said quoting Patnaik.
Pandian was addressing the audience on the Rs 800-crore Srimandir Parikrama Prakalpa or the heritage corridor around Puri’s Jagannath Temple, which was opposed by many since its beginning in 2021. However, Patnaik remained determined and completed it with full determination.
Recalling a recent history, Pandian said, “Somebody very important had asked the CM whether he was sure to do it (project)? In so many years, many people have not done anything. The CM said I am pretty serious about doing this.”
“He (the man who spoke to the CM) said there is huge political risk involved in it. Because I (the man who spoke to the CM) have seen chief ministers who started the project with full enthusiasm, stopped it after 15 days or a month because they knew that they were getting into troubled waters which might finish their political career and government might fall,” Pandian told the audience.
Noting that this is the kind of attachment of people with the temple, Pandian said, “For one mistake your political career may be finished. You (CM) are actually playing with fire. This was the feedback to the Hon’ble CM.”
According to Pandian, Patnaik told that person, “I am in my fifth term. People have bestowed so much love and affection on me. They have reposed faith on me. The people also love and have great respect for Lord Jagannath. If I do not do it for the people who have trust on me, I think history may judge me very wrongly. I will take risk. I will forgo my government, but will get this done.”
The BJD leader said this is the conviction of the man behind the success of the Srimandir Parikrama Prakalpa. He is ready even to forgo the government for doing the “a larger good” for the people of Odisha.
Pandian said Gajapati Maharaja of Puri Divyasingha Deb has categorically said something for the 12th-century shrine has been done after 700 years. “Gajapati is the titular king of Puri and also the ‘karta’ of the temple,” Pandian said.