BJP Will Probe Sudden Deterioration of Naveen Patnaik's Health After Winning in Odisha: PM Modi

The noise around the health of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is growing louder after a video of his hands shaking while addressing a rally went viral. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now said that if the state brings the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power, they will investigate Patnaik’s deteriorating health.

“Every well wisher of Naveen Babu is worried at the sudden deterioration of his health in the last year. Is there any lobby behind this? When his well wishers meet me, they speak about his health. They tell me that he’s not being able to do anything on his own. His well wishers feel that there could be a conspiracy behind his deteriorating health. The question is whether there is a conspiracy behind it. The people of Odisha have the right to know this. Could there be a lobby behind it,” PM Modi questioned while addressing a rally in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj on Tuesday.

“After our Government is formed in Odisha, a special committee will be formed to investigate this issue and bring out the complete truth,” he added.

This came a day after BJP leader Amit Malviya posted a video of Patnaik’s hand shaking while addressing a rally and VK Pandian reaching out for the CM’s hand to stop it from trembling.

“Naveen Patnaik ji has had a memorable tenure as Chief Minister. But now he is indisposed. It is however unfortunate how he is being pushed to keep up a facade. Odisha realises it. A graceful farewell to the veteran politician and BJD, in these elections, would be a befitting tribute,” Malviya said in his post on X (previously Twitter).

This was followed by other BJP leaders posting the same video on social media. “Pandian Babu is even controlling the hand movements of the chief minister. I shudder to imagine the level of control a retired ex-bureaucrat from Tamil Nadu is currently exercising over the future of Odisha,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote while posting the video on X.

Naveen Patnaik Reacts

Reacting to BJP’s posts, CM Naveen Patnaik had called it a “non-issue”. “I believe the BJP, which is known to make non-issues into issues, are discussing my hands. This will certainly not work,” Patnaik said in a video message on Monday. “Senior BJP leaders including chief ministers and Union ministers, who are visiting the state as guests…we expect them not to use poor language and make false allegations. This is not appreciated by the people of Odisha. I pray to Lord Jagannath that better sense prevails with them,” he said.

Earlier this month, too, Patnaik had hit out at the BJP for lying about his health. “There is a limit to the lies that the BJP can tell. As you can see, I am in very good health and I have been campaigning for around a month all over the state,” Patnaik had said.

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