Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik‘s “advanced age and health issues” continues to be a prime source of jeers and jibes in support of Premier Narendra Modi as well as his Bharatiya Janata Party that is battling with the incumbent Biju Janata Dal to control State’s 147-member Assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats.

Mr Modi, aged 73, has claimed that he had presented, but without any evidence, that there was the existence of a “conspiracy behind the sudden deterioration of Naveen Patnaik’s health” and promised to create an inquiry committee into the Chief Minister’s medical background.

In a rally held in Odisha’s Baripada The Prime Minister was asked “Is there a conspiracy behind the sudden deterioration of Naveen Patnaik’s health? Is the lobby currently running the Patnaik government on his behalf responsible for sudden deterioration of his health?”

“If the BJP forms the government in Odisha… it will constitute a committee to ascertain the reason behind the deterioration of Naveen Patnaik’s health,” the Prime Minister said.

A few hours later, Patnaik replied with an ode to his own, asking that the PM “pick up a telephone and ask me about my health”. “Let me assure the PM I am in perfect health… ” said the politician. declared.

“He (the PM) has previously stated in public that he was his best buddy’. All he had to do was call me and inquire questions about my condition. However, BJP members who hail from Odisha as well as Delhi are spreading rumors …”

The ominous target of Modi’s claim which was also reaffirmed by other BJP officials, including the Home Minister Amit Shah as well as Assam chief minister Himanta Sarma – is VK Pandian, a top BJD head in Tamil Nadu widely seen as the Chief Minister’s right-hand person who was observed trying to hide his boss’s handshake during his speech for the campaign.

Mr. Pandian who has played down the notion that of him being a chief minister in the making and has been slammed by Amit Shah who’s party has used all its weight and kitchen sink in this election in order to attract the voters of Tamil Nadu, where it is not gaining traction, calling him an “Tamil babu”.

“Naveen Babu” has been made an Tamil officer the ruler… Oust the BJD (and) we’ll make a new Chief Minister who is a native speaker of Odia… Babus are robbed the state …” the state,” Mr Shah declared in the last week.

“If BJP is voted to power a bhumiputra (son of the soil) will rule, not a Tamil babu.”

Mr. Patnaik has denied the allegations.

On Friday, he accused the BJP of spreading lies and pointed out that he had been a campaigner over the last month, throughout the state. “There is a limit to the lies the BJP can tell. As you can see… I am in very good health,” the politician told the news agency ANI.

On Tuesday, following the video of Mr. Pandian covering his hands was released and was viewed by the media, the BJD director was able to take his opponent from the BJP and BJP to task over turning “non-issues into issues”. “This will certainly not work.”

The smears by Mr. Modi are coming in the midst of a time when the BJP throws its most powerful weaponry at the government BJD to claim its first Assembly election victory, and also get as many Lok Sabha seats as possible.

The BJP has not been a part of a state-level government in Odisha and the state has always been a stalemate from the BJD as well as the Congress. Mr. Patnaik is in charge of the state since march 2000. For the Lok Sabha front, the BJP is advancing regardless of opposition of the Congress-ruled INDIA bloc – to achieve its goals of ‘abki banar 400 paar’, and a third term in the central.

In 2019, the BJD took 12 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats – eight seats less than in the last election and the BJP won eight seats. The party that is saffron also recorded an overwhelming 16.9 percent increase in the percentage of votes.

The attacks appear to suggest that the BJP is worried about the alleged tyrant, Mr. Pandian Perhaps more as the Chief Minister who they have made fairly standard accusations of not advancing the state in the last 24 years.

Based on inputs from various agencies

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