Toeing the line with BJP stalwarts — Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and National President J P Nadda — Assam Chief Minister and saffron party’s star campaigner Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday sharpened attack on Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and BJD’s second-in-command VK Pandian. He predicted imminent fall of the BJD government saying that the regional party will disintegrate after the polls.

It’s pertinent to note here that Pandian, the close aide of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, had earlier alleged that the BJP was attempting to win 50 seats in the Assembly election and then split the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).

“The Chief Minister Patnaik does not rule the State. He has been kept hostage. His trusted aide Tamil Nadu-born VK Pandian has hijacked everything here in the state,” Sarma charged. “BJD leaders having self-respect, and concerned over the degeneration of Odia ashmita (pride) will join the BJP”, he said in Sambalpur on Thursday.

”Those who care for Odia Asmita will not stay in the BJD and they will join the BJP. The BJD will be dismantled once the BJD MLAs and Ministers are defeated in the polls. We want to remove Pandian and make an Odia CM in the state,” said the Assam CM.

PM Modi and Home Minister Shah, who are scheduled to undertake another round of campaigning to give a final push to BJP’s electioneering efforts in the state, had earlier launched diatribe at Patnaik and Pandian during the earlier round of poll campaigning in Odisha.

“Certain miscreants have completely surrounded the CM’s residence and office and the backbone of it will be broken if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comes to power on June 10. Can a person, who does not know the culture and tradition of Odisha, run the state”, Modi launching a scathing attack on BJD had said at Angul on 20 May.

Top BJP leaders including Shah, Nadda, Nitin Gadkari and Dharmendra Pradhan raised the Odia pride plank targeting Patnaik for handing over the administration to a man from Tamil Nadu in each of the poll rallies in the past days. The BJP has trained guns at BJD government mostly on issues of ashimita of Odia people and mysterious missing keys of Ratna Bhandar of Lord Jagannath.

Assam CM Sarma, talking to reporters in Sambalpur where the party has fielded union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, further took a swipe at Patnaik saying that “Naveen babu is the only CM in the country with whom no one can speak alone. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee are all meeting and interacting with people. But Naveen babu is different. He cannot do anything without the instructions of VK Pandian”.