CM in hostage situation, will cry if spoken to alone: Himanta in Odisha

DAYS AFTER Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged that the Odisha Chief Minister’s residence and office had been captured by “a handful of corrupt people”, Himanta Biswa Sarma quipped Thursday that CM Naveen Patnaik was in a “hostage situation”.

In Sambalpur to campaign for Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Assam Chief Minister Sarma said: “No one knows whether the CM of Odisha is fine or not. The CM says whatever is given to him in writing by V K Pandian (Patnaik’s close aide). It is my request to senior citizens and eminent personalities of the state to speak to Naveen Babu to ascertain how he is. I feel he is under a hostage situation.”

He said none of his friends in BJD could meet Patnaik alone in the past 10 years. “Whenever someone meets the CM, it’s in the presence of Pandian. Naveen Babu only says ‘ok, ok’,” he said.

Sarma said while Opposition CMS like Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann and Mamata Banerjee meet people alone, Patnaik is the “only CM who cannottalktoanyonealone”.“naveen Babu will cry if someone talks to him alone for 10 minutes without the presence of Pandian,” the Assam CM claimed.

Continuing the BJP’S attack on Pandian, a former bureaucrat who is now the BJD’S top election strategist, Sarma said, “Pandian is the CM of Odisha now, and we have to remove him and bring a CM who is from Odisha.” Pandian is from Tamil Nadu.

BJD’S organisational secretary, Pranab Prakash Das, took to X and said it was unbecoming of the BJP to make “insulting” comments. “Be it spreading lies about the health of the CM or the mindset of opposing the development of the state, the people of Odisha already know the lies of the BJP... Naveen Babu will be sworn in as CM on June 9...”