BERHAMPUR: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will be "finished in this election" not by the BJP but by his aide VK Pandian, former Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb claimed on Sunday.
Addressing an election rally in Berhampur, Deb said that if the chief minister's father Biju Patnaik was alive he would have been hurt to see that the state was being run by an "outsider".
The people of Odisha have given you respect. But, you are not doing justice to them. Why will the elected representative not run the state? Did people vote for you so that Pandian runs the government?" he asked, targeting the chief minister.
"Naveen-babu... not the BJP, Pandian will finish you in this election," he added.
Deb, a BJP Rajya Sabha MP, said Odisha was rich in natural resources and has hard-working people.
"Then why would an outsider run the government? Is there not a single eligible person here to run the state?" he asked.
"Patnaik has served the people, and I have respect for him and his late father. But now the time has come, Patnaik should retire," Deb said.
He exhorted party workers to "free" Odisha from an "outsider".
"Hand Odisha to PM Narendra Modi for five years, he will make it the number one state," he said.
Odisha will vote in the Lok Sabha elections and assembly polls simultaneously in four phases, starting on May 13.
There are 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state and a 147-member assembly.