Naveen Patnaik

Bhubaneswar, June 5: The Naveen Patnaik-led BJD is slowly but steadily inching towards the BJP-led NDA at the Centre though still shy of admitting it openly.

The shift from a tentative “positive” approach towards the NDA articulated by Naveen a few days ago to a firmer co-operation with the Narendra Modi-led regime became clear today with the BJD becoming one of the proposers for BJP veteran Sumitra Mahajan for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker.

The 72-year-old veteran from Indore, the NDA’s nominee for the exalted office, is certain to become the next Speaker, the second woman to achieve the feat after Meira Kumar, as her name was the only one proposed for the post when the nominations closed today.

Among the proposers was Bhartruhari Mahtab, the BJD’s leader in the Lok Sabha. While Mahtab made the regional party’s support to Mahajan clear, another BJD MP, Baijayant Panda, echoed him. “Traditionally, the Speaker is elected unanimously. We will support her,” said Panda.

Sources said the BJD and the BJP, which once led a coalition government in Odisha, appeared to be moving towards a mutually beneficial partnership at the national level. “They need each other badly. While for the BJD it has become imperative to make friends at the Centre to push the state’s development, the BJP needs the regional party to boost its numbers in the Rajya Sabha,” sources said.

In the 245-member Rajya Sabha, the BJP has 42 members and cannot make the magic mark of 123 even with the help of its allies such as the Shiv Sena, Shirmomani Akali Dal and the Telugu Desam Party. Sources said the party was assiduously wooing regional satraps such as Naveen Patnaik and AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa to tide over the problems it is likely to face in getting bills passed in the Upper House. Of the 10 Rajya Sabha seats from the state, the BJD has four, the Congress one, BJD-backed Independent one and one unattached member (BJD rebel leader Pyari Mohan Mohapatra). There are three vacancies and the BJD is expected to win all the three in the next couple of weeks. For one seat, the election is to he held on June 19.

That the need is mutual in case of the BJD is evident from the fact that chief minister Naveen Patnaik ensured the presence of all the 24 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs of the party while meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Monday. Naveen took the opportunity to present his wish list, including the state’s long-standing demand for special category status, before Modi. He is said to have elicited a positive response from the new Prime Minister.

In the immediate wake of the Delhi meeting, Naveen told journalists that his party would have a “positive and constructive” approach towards the Modi regime, a significant statement considering that he has, so far, been consistent about maintaining equal distance from both the BJP and the Congress.

Sources said Naveen was making a cleaver shift towards the NDA as he desperately needed Centre’s co-operation to fund his developments in the state. “Throughout the UPA regime he found himself in confrontation with the Centre on a variety of issues. Though it earned him political dividends in terms of Lok Sabha seats, the state’s development suffered. He is keen to change that,” said a senior BJD leader.

But cautious as ever, the chief minister seems to be testing the ground with small moves such as extending support to Mahajan before taking the NDA plunge. His reluctance to come out openly in support of the BJP was evident today when he refused to give a categorical reply to a question about supporting the party in the Rajya Sabha. “We have not discussed it so far,” he quipped.