Naveen

Bhubaneswar, March 7: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today ruled out support to the Congress at the Centre in the wake of the DMK’s decision to pull out of the UPA government.

“The BJD will not support the Congress,” said Naveen. However, the state Congress leaders wondered as to what was the provocation for the chief minister’s statement when he had not received any bail out feelers from Delhi.

The statement came a day after Rajya Sabha member Pyari Mohan Mohapatra said that if approached with a proposal for support the party might consider the issue.

“On the face of it, the statement is in keeping with the BJD’s professed policy of maintaining equal distance from the Congress and the BJP. However, at a deeper level, it is bound to create confusion among the state Congress leaders who have long suspected Naveen of having a tacit understanding with their bosses in Delhi,” sources said.

Given the fact that the UPA government needs 272 seats to keep afloat and the withdrawal of the DMK would leave it 16 short of that figure, the 14 BJD Lok Sabha MPs could be a big temptation for the Congress to woo Naveen. However, with Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav willing to pledge it the support of his 22 MPs, the Congress appears to be in no real need to come to the chief minister with a begging bowl.

“To the best of our knowledge, the party leadership in Delhi has not contacted him. So where lies the need for him to say all this? He seems to have jumped the gun in the hope that he will actually get feelers. The truth is that he desperately needs the Centre on his side with a string of scams having rocked his government and the demand for a CBI inquiry into them turning into a crescendo,” said state Congress spokesperson Arya Gyanendra.

BJD general secretary Narendra Swain said that the statement was meant to clear the air over the party’s stand towards the UPA in the wake of the DMK’s threat.

“He thought it proper to make a statement before any other party leader spoke on the issue,” said Swain.