Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik slams Jay Panda, lists reasons behind his estrangement with former BJD MP

Odisha Chief Minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik on Sunday finally broke his silence over the reasons behind his estrangement with family friend and former BJD MP Baijayant 'Jay' Panda and slammed Panda for spreading rumors about his health.

Talking to ANI, Patnaik said that Panda wanted to be chairman of Parliamentary Finance Committee but the BJD did not have the required numbers to prop him up. According to Patnaik, Panda then suggested to take help from the BJP but he was not in favour of this idea.

"He (Baijayant Panda) wanted to be chairman of Parliamentary Finance Committee.Our party didn't have sufficient numbers so he thought he'd get support of BJP.I didn’t think it was a good idea&didn’t support him due to financial dealings of his company," said the Odisha CM.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik to ANI:He(Baijayant Panda)wanted to be chairman of Parliamentary Finance Committee.Our party didn't have sufficient numbers so he thought he'd get support of BJP.I didn’t think it was a good idea&didn’t support him due to financial dealings of his company pic.twitter.com/YF10v1jD5i — ANI (@ANI) April 21, 2019

Patnaik then mentioned another incident which led to his estrangement from Jay Panda and said, "I was pursuing the development of railways in Kendrapara. It is the only district in the coast which has no rail development. A former Railways Minister laughed and said that 'you are pursuing development of railways in Kendrapara but your MP (Jay Panda) is only concerned about railway development to his mining companies.' This shocked me."

The BJD chief remarked that he felt let down after knowing about this incident but he decided to take action against Jay Panda after it was confirmed to him that the Kendrapara MP was spreading rumors about his health. "After 2014, a number of my friends from Delhi rang up very concerned because they thought I was in bad health. But my health has always been good and I told them so. They told me that this is what Baijayant Panda was spreading. This was a shock," he noted.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik to ANI: Friends from Delhi rang up because they thought I was in bad health. My health has always been good, told them so. They told me this is what Baijayant Panda was spreading. I was shocked. https://t.co/smc7x2ayIn — ANI (@ANI) April 21, 2019

It is to be noted that Jay Panda is contesting the Lok Sabha poll on a BJP ticket from Kendrapara. The voting in Kendrapara is scheduled to take place in the fourth phase on April 29. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will campaign for Jay Panda in Kendrapara on April 22.