{"id":2028,"date":"2018-01-01T06:03:03","date_gmt":"2018-01-01T06:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/132.148.16.13\/~indiafirstenewsp\/?p=2028"},"modified":"2020-10-16T12:19:05","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T12:19:05","slug":"cutting-both-ways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/2018\/01\/01\/cutting-both-ways\/","title":{"rendered":"CUTTING BOTH WAYS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Naveen Patnaik has once again demonstrated mastery over the fine art of positioning himself advantageously on the national political scene without losing his rock-solid footing at home <\/strong><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik\u2019s participation in the all-party memorial meeting organised by the BJP in Bhubaneswar recently to pay homage to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee received fulsome coverage in the local media.<br \/>\nThe reason Patnaik\u2019s participation received so much attention was the widespread speculation before the event that he may skip it given his party\u2019s adversarial relations with the BJP in the state. But the astute politician that he is, Patnaik turned up at the venue and offered his tribute to the late leader under whom he had worked as a minister at the Centre.<br \/>\nIn the process he took some of the sting out of BJP\u2019s campaign against him and his government and also earned the gratitude of his rivals. That BJP leaders were grateful to him was evident from the way he was received at the venue by the two union ministers from the state \u2013 Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram and the statements of some of the saffron leaders.<br \/>\nOne of them thanked him despite saying that he had expected him to turn up given the stature of the former Prime Minister whose appeal cut across the political spectrum. Sources, however, said that Patnaik\u2019s participation in the event was confirmed only 24 hours before the meeting.<br \/>\nWhat helped the chief minister make up his mind was the solemnity of the occasion and his personal connection with the former Prime Minister under whom he served as minister for Steel and Mines from March 1998 to March 2000 till he assumed office as the Odisha chief minister. The fact that Vajpayee was acceptable to all parties because of the flexible nature of his politics also helped.<br \/>\nSources in the BJD described the chief minister\u2019s decision as the right tactical move. \u201cHe has proved himself to be a gracious leader. This was a different kind of occasion and his presence at the meeting only enhanced his image,\u201d said a party leader while another explained that Naveen always rose above politics in such matters. \u201cHere there was an added factor as well. The Chief Minister considers Vajpayee to be an inspiration and a mentor,\u201d the leader added.<br \/>\nNaveen himself struck the right chord while addressing the all-party gathering at the Exhibition Ground where the memorial meeting was held. While he described Vajpyee\u2019s demise as a national loss as well as a personal loss for him, he said he would always cherish his relations with the departed leader whom he described as a unique combination of idealism and tolerance.<br \/>\nThe Chief Minister, who recalled having taken his first baby steps in politics under Vajpayee, used epithets such as \u201cstatesman\u201d and a \u201cman of strong principles\u201d while paying homage to the former Prime Minister who, in his opinion, taught to the rest of the world the art of managing a coalition. Describing Vajpayee\u2019s death as the end of an era, Naveen recalled the former Prime Minister\u2019s love for Odisha. \u201cHe was a man with a large heart, with a special corner for the state,\u201d said the chief minister.<br \/>\nSignificantly enough, his much talked about participation in the memorial meeting for Vajpayee came in the wake of BJD\u2019s support for NDA candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh for the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson. His party\u2019s vote played a crucial role in ensuring Singh\u2019s victory for which both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah conveyed their gratitude to Naveen.<br \/>\nWhat is more important is that Naveen did this without in any way diluting his policy of maintaining equidistance from BJP and the Congress. As the senior leaders of his party claimed later the BJD had voted in favour of Harivansh as he happened to be an MP from JD(U), a party with secular credentials and an ideology similar to the BJD.<br \/>\n\u201cWe share a common ideology and a common political heritage. Both our parties are inspired by the Jay Prakash Narayan movement and have been part of Janata Parivar,\u201d explained a BJD leader.<br \/>\nWhile that may be true, the election of Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson underscored the importance of Naveen as a powerful regional satrap who is sought after by both NDA and the UPA but who continues to maintain his own independent identity.<br \/>\nLike a seasoned politician Patnaik kept his cards close to his chest till the last moment. He decided to favour the NDA candidate only after receiving calls from the Prime Minister, the BJP chief and most importantly Bihar chief minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar.<br \/>\nWhile the magic figure for any combine to get its candidate elected in the Rajya Sabha was 123 the BJP, which is the largest party in the House with 73 members, was falling short by six even if it counted on support from regional outfits such as AIADMK (13), TRS (6) and YSR Congress (2) apart from JD (U) (6), Shiv Sena (3), Akali Dal (3) and some smaller parties that have backed it in the past. Similarly, the Congress, with 50 seats of its own in the House, could at best hope to reach 112 with the support of allies. Thus, the support of Naveen-led BJD, which has 9 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, was crucial for both the sides.<br \/>\nAware of his strength, Naveen played his cards extremely well, reinforcing his position as a powerful regional leader who could influence the course of national politics. While Naveen over the years has learnt the fine art of positioning himself advantageously on the national political landscape, on the home front he has been making all the right moves with the launch of one people-centric programme after another, the latest being \u2018Ama Mukhya Mantri, Ama Katha\u2019 that seeks to expedite the process of social transformation in the state through dialogues. It is this combination of political acumen and pro-people<br \/>\ngovernance that has made Naveen<br \/>\ninvincible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Naveen Patnaik has once again demonstrated mastery over the fine art of positioning himself advantageously on the national political scene without losing his rock-solid footing at home Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik\u2019s participation in the all-party memorial meeting organised by the BJP in Bhubaneswar recently to pay homage to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-odisha"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2028"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2032,"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028\/revisions\/2032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.testctsl.in\/indiafirstepaper\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}