Why BJP keeps raising Naveen Patnaik’s health, and why BJD blames an Odisha BJP face

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised questions about the health of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the last leg of the simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state, it wasn’t the first time that the issue had made it to the electoral battleground.

Just ahead of the 2019 polls, Patnaik had accused his longtime friend-turned-foe Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda of spreading “rumours” about his health in Delhi circles “for his own personal political ambitions”.

While Panda always refuted the same, lingering suspicion regarding this was one of the factors that had led the BJD to suspend the leader, the party’s face in Delhi, in January 2018. In May that year, Panda had joined the BJP, and is its candidate from the Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat this time.

To further dispel apprehensions about Patnaik’s health, the BJD had released a short video ahead of the 2019 polls that depicted the Odisha CM’s exercise routine at his residence.

In 2019, the Patnaik-led party won 112 seats in the Assembly (of 146 that voted, as election in one seat was countermanded), five less than the previous polls, while the BJP increased its tally to 23, from 10 in 2014.

Ahead of the 2022 panchayat polls, again talk began about how fit Patnaik was. The CM blamed “vested interests”, and claimed that the very fact that such rumour-mongering” was being done showed that the BJD was going to do very well.

Speaking to reporters in February 2022 after offering prayers at the famed Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar, Patnaik said: “Whenever there is an election, these rumours are started that my health is not well. I can assure all of you that I am in perfect health, very happy and here to serve the people of Odisha.”

The BJD had swept the 2022 panchayat