After Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on Tuesday, asked Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to retire as he is 77 years old, senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram took a dig at the BJP leader, asking if he is suggesting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should retire as well.
While addressing election rallies in Odisha, Amit Shah had suggested that Patnaik should retire due to his "advanced age and health issues" and promised that the saffron party would make a young Odia-speaking 'bhumiputra' the chief minister of the state if elected to power in the assembly polls.
Taking to X, the Congress leader took a dig at the Union minister, saying: "When Mr Amit Shah said that Mr Naveen Patnaik should retire because of "advanced age" (77 years) was he throwing a hint to Mr Narendra Modi (73 years, 7 months) -- in case the BJP formed the government?"
Chidambaram claimed that it seems that Amit Shah will be “the happiest person” if the saffron party did not form the government after the ongoing Lok Sabha polls and he and not Modi will be the leader of the opposition.
Shah had also claimed that the NDA has already won 310 seats after five phases of polling and added that in the next two phases, the NDA will achieve the target of 400-plus seats.
He also targetted bureaucrat-turned-politician V K Pandian, calling him "Tamil babu". "Naveen babu has made a Tamil officer ruler of the state. Oust the BJD government... we will give a young Odia-speaking chief minister... babus (officers) have looted the state of its minerals. I promise you these babus would be jailed after the BJP forms the government in Odisha," Shah had said.
