New Delhi: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here at the latter’s office Monday. However, Naveen Patnaik denied having any discussion on Presidential elections with Modi.
The Odisha chief minister said that he paid a courtesy visit to the prime minister as he hadn’t met the latter for close to two years due to the outbreak of Covid-19. Patnaik is on a three-day visit to the national capital.
“I paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I haven’t been able to meet him because of the pandemic for a lengthy period. We discussed several issues regarding Odisha and asked for his help. There was no discussion on Presidential elections,” Patnaik said.
Later in the evening, the Chief Minister also met Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss several state specific issues.
Earlier, the Chief Minister had visited Parliament here March 29 and had held a meeting with Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MPs. During the visit, he could not meet the Prime Minister.
Patnaik’s meetings with Modi and Shah assume significance in the context of the President’s election in July this year as the BJP-led ruling NDA may require the support of parties like the BJD and YSRC to ensure victory of their candidate. The BJD has on many occasions backed the central government in Parliament on various issues.
Significantly, the President of India is elected by an electoral college comprising members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and Legislative Assemblies. While the value of the vote of the MPs from both houses remains uniform – 708 a seat, the value of votes of MLAs depends on the population of the state. According to the Presidential electoral college the value of each Odisha MLA is 149. The BJD has 113 MLAs out of 147 in Odisha Assembly and 21 MPs – 12 in Lok Sabha and nine in Rajya Sabha. Accordingly, the BJD has 31,705 votes in the electoral college of over 10 lakh votes.