Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik continues to top popularity charts. He has been voted the most popular Chief Minister in Home State in the 2022 edition of the India Today-CVoter biannual Mood of the Nation (MOTN) poll.
In the poll, respondents from all states nationwide were asked to rate their respective chief ministers – and Patnaik emerged at the top with 71 per cent of the 2,743 respondents in Odisha giving him a thumbs-up. The Biju Janata Dal supremo was followed by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at 69.9 per cent and Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin at 67.5 per cent.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has 61.8 per cent approval rating, while Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan has 61.1 per cent, Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal 57.9 per cent, Assam’s Himanta Biswa Sarma 56.6%, and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel 51.4 per cent.
Notably, the chief minister of only one of the states ruled by the BJP or its ally touched or crossed the 50 per cent mark. The MOTN survey, however, revealed that 58 per cent of respondents were very satisfied/satisfied with the performance of the Modi government and close to 63 per cent rated his personal performance as outstanding/good, a drop of 15 per cent since August 2020, before the outbreak of COVID-19.
However, 21.1 per cent of respondents still feel that good handling of the pandemic is one of the biggest achievements of the NDA government. This is in stark contrast to the August 2021 edition when COVID handling was dubbed as its biggest failure.
As far as Patnaik is concerned, his popularity rating has been consistently high in almost all the polls conducted over the past few years. While his own people have always had a high opinion of him, people in other parts of the country have also found his performance to be extremely good. While Patnaik’s handling of the COVID pandemic situation has been an example for the rest of the country, with him having taken some very important steps such as establishing India’s first dedicated COVID hospital and supplying oxygen to oxygen-deficient states, his contribution even in the field of sports has been hailed by one and all.
Patnaik is credited with pulling Indian hockey out of a crisis by sponsoring both national men’s and women’s teams. Both the teams put up a great show at the last Tokyo Olympics, making the entire nation proud. The five-time Chief Minister has also ensured that sportspersons in the state get the best possible facilities, and Kalinga Stadium in the state capital has turned into a major sports hub.
Odisha, under the leadership of Patnaik, has also achieved some major milestones in the field of industrialization. It has emerged as the country’s most favourable investment destination where all smart and forward-looking industrialists want to put their money.
All of this has been more than enough to see Patnaik’s popularity rising by the year. To put it simply, he is in a class of his own.
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