‘Won’t burden the central govt, will manage on our own,’ Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik at meeting with PM Modi

Naveen Pattnaik, the CM of Odisha, is a true saviour and a leader others should look up to, especially in areas like Disaster Management, administration, policy consistency etc. PM Modi reached Odisha to take a review of the relief efforts being carried out by the state government after the Yaas cyclone devastation and discussed relief efforts, Pattnaik said the state government would manage the crisis on its own and would not like to burden the Union government in times of crisis.

“Thank you Hon’ble PM @narendramodi Ji for visiting #Odisha in the aftermath of #CycloneYaas. Apprised him about the large scale devastation caused by the cyclone and steps taken by the State Govt ahead of the cyclone and the ongoing restoration efforts,” tweeted the CM of Odisha.

“As the country is at the peak of #COVID19 pandemic, we have not sought any immediate financial assistance to burden the Central Govt and would like to manage it through our own resources to tide over the crisis,” he added.

On one hand, we have CMs like Kejriwal who are asking for more and more from the Union government, and are hoarding the supplies that are provided as relief efforts. Also, the Congress and its supported government are wasting the relief supplies like concentrartors, cylinders etc, while the Naveen Pattnaik government not only managed Coronavirus pandemic very well and supplied oxygen to states like Delhi, but now managing the relief efforts after such a devastating pandemic on its own.

Naveen Patnaik has been class apart as a politician, chief minister, and as opposition leader too. He always supported the central government, irrespective of the party in power, on the matters of ‘National Importance.’ His politics has always been ‘constructive’ and dedicated towards the upliftment of the society. And perhaps this is the reason that Patnaik has been CM of the state for the last 20 years, despite the fact that he is not well-versed in Odia, the first language of the state.

Naveen Patnaik is the son of charismatic Odia leader Biju Patnaik who was CM of the state from 1990 to 1995. In 1995, the Congress party was elected to power in the state and it changed three CMs in five years. The people voted Biju Janata Dal- a party Naveen Patnaik formed in 1998 in the name of his father who died in a plane crash in 1997- in 2000 elected and since then the party has won all assembly elections in the state.

Read More: Naveen Patnaik – a politician who emerges as the true saviour in times of crisis

He has sailed the state in one crisis after another in the last two decades. Apart from handling the Cyclone Phani in an impeccable fashion in cooperation with the Union government in 2019, BJD also openly backed NDA on several important issues, including on the passing of important bills such as that of criminalizing Triple Talaq and the removal of Article 370. Under the leadership of Naveen Pattnaik, BJD is one of the rare opposition parties who have supported the Union government when it came to keeping national interests above everything else.

BJD always chose ‘non-confrontational’ politics, especially with the party in power at the centre – unlike TMC, the party in neighbouring West Bengal – as it helps the party to work in sync with the Union government, and get a good deal in union grants to states. The swift decision making and constructive approach to politics is what makes Patnaik an unbeatable leader, and that is why BJP has not been able to topple him despite its national resurgence.