Revival of Odia pride is my priority: Pyarimohan Mohapatra

The days of shadow-boxing are over, and yes, the gloves are off. From now on, Odisha politics will witness direct political tussle between Pyarimohan Mohapatra and Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik. Pyarimohan, the brain behind the chief minister for a long time, today re-launched his outfit, Odisha Jana Morcha (OJM), as a political entity. In an interview with Firstpost’s Akshaya Mishra, he outlines his agenda for the future. Edited excerpts: What’s your strategy for the coming elections? The strategy is to touch the Odia psyche and the Odia emotion. Ultimately what I am trying to do is inculcate the Odia pride—swabhiman—through prosperity in every family. Every Odia should walk with his head held high and not be a supplicant. This is the first one.[caption id=“attachment_692411” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Pyarimohan Mohapatra. Firstpost[/caption] The second one is to develop every village as a gram panchayat. Each gram panchayat will be the unit of development, self-sufficient and the arbiter of its own destiny. The government will not meddle in its affairs and will only act as a facilitator. This is a new concept. You are also seeking total prohibition… Yes, the Jan Morcha will ensure total prohibition in the state. This is to ensure that resources are not frittered away. The fight against poverty is immaterial unless you stop people from drinking. Freedom from fear is another big goal of my party. Law and order has completely collapsed in the state. The dream of Biju babu to make Odias fearless and courageous will be addressed by Jan Morcha. I have appealed to all Odias today, like Guru Govind Singh, to give me one member who will be a member and soldier of the Jan Morcha. Also, we would seek funds from them, according to their capacity, to fight elections. Thus we don’t need to take money from companies. What are the issues you are going to take up? The biggest issue is that we have a non-performing government at the helm for four years now. And all of a sudden it has started throwing subsidies and freebies at people. It has announced that 10,000 hostels would be given Rs 10,000 and 20,000 farmers would be given mobiles when there are lakhs of them. It has also promised laptops to 10,000 students while there are four lakh students in junior colleges only. Only yesterday, the government announced Rs 10 lakh for each panchayat for laying of concrete roads. However, many panchayat members tell me only Rs 2 lakh has been sanctioned at this point. The rest has been blocked as some percentage of it will be used for election purposes. It’s like throwing alms at beggars. We don’t want to be beggars. Also, the government is not able to maintain law and order. There is a gangrape on almost every second day. The government is totally inefficient. Naveen Patnaik has proved himself incompetent. There’s the need for someone who knows politics and knows the way to do things. Are you planning to go it alone? How many seats do you expect to win? Of course, I would be finding allies. Right now I am open to everybody. According to my calculation, Odisha Jan Morcha with its allies could win a minimum of 80 seats and maximum of 85. I am in talks with both the national parties, the Congress and the BJP. Some people from both the sides are negotiating with me. My terms are simple: Odisha Jan Morcha is a regional party. Whichever national party partners it must accept its supremacy in the state. The second term is they should agree to fight for the resource mobilisation for the state. Odisha must get its due priority when it comes to coal and other minerals. The state must have control over its resources and full right on royalty. We don’t need special category status. If the royalty issue is taken care of then Odisha can give something to the centre that asking for funds. Your party is strong in some tribal pockets but has a thin presence in coastal areas… Odisha Jan Morcha has strong presence in Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj and Koraput but we have pockets of influence in coastal areas too. These include Bhubaneswar and other areas of Khurda, including Bolgad and Begunia. In Cuttack district, too, we have supporters. A lot of people are coming up to join the party. What about BJD leaders? Do you expect them to defect to your party? Half of the MLAs in the BJD were not leaders beforehand. I have built them. BJD workers are welcome to join the party. If the MLAs and MPs come within 30 days they are welcome. After that the doors are closed for them.