Naveen Patnaik’s interview at Odisha Literary Festival 2016

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is a man of few words. But when he speaks, everyone takes note.

At the valedictory function of the Odisha Literary Festival 2016, the CM of Odisha opened up in a freewheeling interaction with Editorial Director of The New Indian Express Prabhu Chawla.

Ruling out the possibility of any alliance with Congress in future, the BJD president said his regional party would stick to its stance of maintaining equi-distance from both Congress and BJP.

Naveen Patnaik also ruled out the likelihood of him playing a major role in national politics, saying he has no plans to move to Delhi, where he has had a stint as a Union Minister. He said his foremost concern now was the state where there was a lot of unfinished agenda.

To a query whether he was grooming his successor having been the Chief Minister for the last over 16 years, Patnaik said people would choose their own leader and there was no need to groom anybody.

The Chief Minister said the state was facing much difficulties due to cut in Central funds for a number of programmes and schemes.

From alliance politics to choice of his official car, Naveen spoke on an array of topics. Here is the full interview.

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