Naxal violence down, Shah pats Patnaik
New Delhi, August 5
At a time when the Odisha’s ruling BJD has announced its decision to support the ruling BJP in the no-confidence motion against the ruling NDA, Union Home Minister Amit Shah today praised Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for helping the Centre in curbing Naxal violence.
Lauding Patnaik as “popular” leader, Shah hailed him for becoming the CM for five times in a row.
Shah, who in 2019 had referred the BJD government as a “jala hua transformer” (burnt out transformer), while sharing dais with Patnaik in an official programme said, “Patnaik has created the record of becoming the CM of Odisha for five times in a row. He is a popular CM.”
Shah praised the CM and the BJD government in Odisha for the decline in left-wing extremism (LWE) and Maoist influence in the state. “The Odisha Government and Naveen babu have always supported the Centre to combat Naxals,” he said, adding the Centre was committed to root out Naxalism from the country. “Odisha has adopted innovative methods for disaster management and has therefore emerged as a role model for the country,” the minister noted. Claiming that natural disasters were a major problem in Odisha, Shah said, “I would like to again thank Naveen ji for helping the Centre by implementing all the disaster management initiatives in the state.”
He said, “The state government also implemented its own disaster management initiatives and became a model for the country in calamity management. If two governments work in tandem, then natural calamities can also be contained.” Shah said the cyclones of Odisha were once infamous and many people used to get killed. “However, when cyclones hit Odisha now, there is almost zero casualty. The entire world has also witnessed this,” he added. — TNS
BJD supporting NDA in trust vote
Home Minister Amit Shah’s praise is considered significant as it comes barely a few days after the Odisha’s ruling BJD supported the Centre on the Delhi Services Bill and also announced to oppose the no-confidence motion against the Modi government.
