**Bhubaneswar: ** Even though Odisha Chief Minister-cum-BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik had ventured out and virtually fielded ex-Lok Sabha Speaker P. A Sagma as the presidential candidate in 2012 against the then UPA Government’s candidate Pranab Mukherjee (incumbent President of India), this time the regional satrap has maintained a studied silence, but all eyes is on him.
On being queried by media on Tuesday here, the BJD supremo’s reaction was that his final call on the presidential candidate will only be after seeing other parties’ choice.
“When not even the candidates have been announced, so it’s too early to ask,” pat came the reply.
While the upcoming presidential election is scheduled in July this year, PM Modi-led NDA Government is yet to announce its candidate.
Even though hectic parleys are on by the opposition parties led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to field a consensus candidate in a bid to pose a challenge to the growing prowess of brand Modi, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is still having the cards close to his chest harping on the same string of maintaining equidistance from both Congress and BJP.
Notably, BJD had supported the candidature of Sangma in the presidential election of 2012 and played a leading role as he along with the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha supported the candidature of the former Lok Sabha Speaker.
This time, the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD is going to play a significant role in the upcoming presidential election as the regional party has 28 MPs, including 20 Lok Sabha and eight Rajya Sabha members, besides enjoying support of another Independent Rajya Sabha MP. Besides, the party has 117 MLAs in the 147-strength Odisha Legislative Assembly.
Though it was claimed to be a courtesy call, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee have already visited Naveen Niwas to hold discussion on the ensuing presidential poll.
