Dharmendra Pradhan ridicules Patnaik's statement on regional parties' coordination

BHUBANESHWAR: Union Minister and senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday ridiculed Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's statement on coordination between regional parties.

“I heard Naveen babu has hinted on allying with regional parties, he wants to ally with Mamata Di? Whose party is embroiled in chit fund scam, or another scam hit Lalu Yadav? Nation will give them a fitting reply,” said Pradhan, the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Biju Janata Dal chief Patnaik on Monday said that regional parties should have better coordination to strengthen cooperative federalism.

“It is important to have coordination among regional parties for strengthening cooperative federalism,” Patnaik told PTI.

He also thanked West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s for supporting Odisha over the Mahanadi river water dispute with Chhattisgarh and Polavaram issue with Andhra Pradesh, respectively.

This is not the first time Pradhan has mocked Patnaik over his friendship with Banerjee.

In April 2017, Pradhan ridiculed Patnaik and Banerjee's and termed it as a bid to develop "mutual cooperation" to deal with chit fund scam probe.

"The understanding b/w @Naveen_Odisha led BJD & @ MamataOffficial led TMC is driven by a common bonding of corruption & is nothing but natural," Pradhan, the Petroleum minister had tweeted an hour after the meeting between the two chief ministers of the neighbouring states.

Pradhan, who's the current in-charge of BJP in Bihar, represented Odisha's Deogarh constituency in the Lok Sabha from 2004–2009.