Bhubaneswar, Oct. 15: Orissa’s bachelor chief minister turns 66 on Sunday. But this, by all appearances, is going to be an austere birthday for Naveen Patnaik, who is known to have a sweet tooth.
There may be no cakes and sweets this time, what with two spells of floods that killed more than 40 persons having set a sombre mood. Naveen has himself asked well-wishers and supporters to desist from visiting him at Naveen Nivas to greet him on the day.
The chief minister’s birthday is normally a special occasion for partymen and admirers who visit Naveen Nivas, a sprawling bungalow near the airport, every year with flowers and cakes. While ministers and MLAs vie with each other to catch his attention on the occasion, even schoolchildren have been seen greeting him on the occasion.
However, this time it is going to be different, because of the floods. Sources said Naveen has decided against celebrating not just as a symbolic gesture but because he is actually worried about the huge losses sustained by the state in the calamity. The state’s flood loss, according to one estimate, stands at around Rs 3,000 crore and the government has already written to Union home minister P. Chidambaram seeking immediate release of Rs 1,000 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to meet the challenge of rehabilitation and reconstruction in the wake of the tragedy.
Floods, incidentally, have also brought the government face-to-face with governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare, who has reiterated his suggestion for the constitution of an expert body to look into the factors behind the devastating floods. The statement of the governor must be an embarrassment for the government, which had earlier turned down his request for the formation of an expert panel on the issue.
Problems are cropping up for the chief minister even on the political front with dissidence rearing its head within the ruling party as evident from the recent launch of Biju Vichar Manch, which, despite its professed objective of bringing together the followers of late Biju Patnaik, is being widely seen as a forum sponsored and supported by BJD rebels. Outside his party, the chief minister faces an increasingly belligerent Opposition which is working hard to build up a state-wide movement over politically sensitive issues such as the multi-crore mining scam.
The celebrations tomorrow, then, are bound to be muted and Naveen’s personal appeal to his partymen to desist from making a song and dance about it stands to reason. “The chief minister himself has asked us to refrain from celebrating his birthday. So, we have to forget there is a birthday,” said revenue and disaster management minister Surya Narayan Patro.
The BJD dissident spearhead and former agriculture minister Damodar Rout somehow found it convenient that the chief minister had decided against celebrating his birthday. “I don’t believe in celebrating birthdays. So, fortunately for me he has himself issued an official circular requesting everybody not to wish him on the occasion. However, I will convey my good wishes to him through his private secretary,” said Rout.
That seems to be the overall mood within the BJD, with Naveen in a “thanks but no thanks” mood. However, there are those die-hard fans and loyalists who would like to go against the grain and visit Naveen Nivas with bouquets, if nothing else. “We are sure he won’t deny us the pleasure of saying it with flowers,” said one such fan, who wanted to remain anonymous for the sake springing a surprise tomorrow.
