On Wednesday (29th May), Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed concerns about the deteriorating health of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The development comes a day after a video of CM Patnaik went viral in which his alleged proxy, VK Pandian, was seen grabbing his shaking hands to hide them from the public. PM Modi stressed that people who are close to CM Patnaik have expressed concerns about how his health has deteriorated drastically in the last year. He added that it has led many of them to suspect that there could be a conspiracy behind it.
Sharing the concern, PM Modi announced that after forming the government in the state, the saffron party will form a special committee to probe whether the lobby that is running state in Patnaik’s name is responsible for his poor health. Meanwhile, CM Patnaik has rejected reports about his poor health stating that he is in “very good health”.
Notably, the BJP has been launching scathing attacks on the BJD government over the issue of Odia Asmita. It asserts that an Odisha-born person should be the Chief Minister of the state rather than a Tamil-born retired IAS officer running the government without accountability. According to the BJP, BJD is running a proxy government in the name of Naveen Patnaik and Tamil-born bureaucrat turned BJD leader Pandian has become the ‘de-facto’ CM who is controlling and dictating terms to 77-year-old Patnaik whose health is allegedly deteriorating.
Even in the recent viral video, Pandian, as usual, was seen holding the mike and watching the CM speak with careful observation when he grabbed his trembling hands to conceal them from the public eye. Sharing the video, the BJP stated that the video was symbolic of how Pandian has grabbed control of the state.
A day after the video went viral, PM Modi raised the issue of CM Patnaik’s alleged poor health while addressing an election rally in Odisha’s Baripada. PM Modi said, “People are concerned about the health of CM Naveen Patnaik and how his health deteriorated so much in the last one year. Those close to CM Naveen say that the CM is not able to do anything on his own. Some even suspect a conspiracy behind the poor health condition of CM Naveen. People of Odisha have the right to know if there is any conspiracy behind CM Naveen’s deteriorating health.”
'Is There A Conspiracy Behind CM Naveen's Deteriorating Health?'
— OTV (@otvnews) May 29, 2024
'Is The Lobby Running Odisha In The Name Of Naveen Babu Responsible For The Poor Health Condition Of The CM?'
People are concerned about the health of CM Naveen Patnaik that how his health deteriorated so much in… pic.twitter.com/foJJo2UvGZ
The Prime Minister further stated that the people have the right to know whether there is any conspiracy behind CM Patnaik’s deteriorating Health. And ‘Is the lobby running Odisha in Naveen Babu’s name responsible for his Poor Health?’’
Earlier, addressing a rally in Odisha’s Jajpur, Union Home Minister Amit Shah lambasted Pandian (referring to him as Tamil babu) for stopping Odia people from celebrating ‘Ram Mahotsav’. Slamming the ‘political heir’ of Odisha CM, Shah asserted, “Can a person from Tamil Nadu be the Chief Minister of Odisha? Narendra Modi will give you an Odia-speaking young CM who is a resident of Odisha.”
