New Delhi, Mar 30 (PTI) The BJP on Monday sought to distance itself from party MP Nishikant Dubey’s remarks on Biju Patnaik, with senior leader Baijayant Jay Panda saying that the late leader was a towering personality and any aspersions on his patriotism are “totally unacceptable”.

Dubey, in a statement on March 27, had claimed that Patnaik acted as a link between former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the CIA during the war against China in the 1960s.

Amid a row, BJP national vice president Panda said on X, “Biju uncle was a towering personality, not just Odisha’s tallest leader of his era, but among the leading lights of the nation. Most importantly, he was one of the greatest patriots of modern Bharat.

“National pride burned deep in his veins, and he dedicated his life to liberating India and uplifting Odisha. He did that as a pilot, industrialist, political leader, and global troubleshooter. His heroic missions, diplomatic and defence initiatives all contributed to strengthening our fledgling republic,” he said.

“Casting aspersions on his patriotism is fantastical and patently ludicrous. Such attacks on him are unworthy, uninformed, and totally unacceptable,” Panda, the BJP MP from Odisha’s Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency, added, without naming Dubey.

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Monday staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha, protesting purported disparaging remarks by Dubey against Biju Patnaik.

Reacting sharply to Dubey’s remarks, BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Monday said the BJP MP needs to consult a “mental doctor” for making “outrageous” remarks against the freedom fighter and former Odisha chief minister.

Meanwhile, Dubey refuted allegations that he disrespected Biju Patnaik, asserting that he always held the former Odisha chief minister in high regard, as political leaders from the state hit back at the MP.

“There has never been any lack of respect for Biju Patnaik. When the Congress treated Biju Babu unjustly, it was the Jana Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party that stood by him.

“What I said that day, and what I repeat again today, is that I am running a continuous series exposing the deeds of the Nehru-Gandhi family and the Congress,” the BJP MP told reporters in the Parliament House complex on Monday. PTI PK RHL