The personal vehicle of Biju Patnaik at Naveen Nivas in Bhubaneswar ready to be displayed on his death anniversary. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, April 16: Kalinga Rath, the historic station wagon, is set to roll out of Naveen Niwas tomorrow, the 14th death anniversary of the legendary Biju Patnaik, who rode it for nearly 40 years.

Confined to Naveen Niwas garage through the year, the station wagon is taken out once in 12 months. The flower-bedecked vehicle, which has a portrait of Biju Babu in front, is a major attraction on the day.

The 1958 model bearing the number OR-U-5867 is an integral part of what has come to be known as the Biju’s legacy.

Prafulla Pashupalak, who drove it for 22-years, said: “After Biju Babu had lost a major election, he sold most of his properties, including the Kalinga Tubes. He was left with only two vehicles that included the station wagon.”

Pashupalak started driving the vehicle after two others had left. “From 1977 to 1997, I had drove the vehicle. There was no place where we did not go in this vehicle. Biju Babu loved the thrill of fast driving and if any vehicle overtook us, he would be very upset,” recalled Pashupalak. Apart from covering the whole of Orissa, the leader even travelled to Kerala in it.

“We had an accident near Begunia,” said the driver reminiscing those days.

There is an interesting story behind the station wagon’s transformation into Kalinga Rath.

“After the then Andhra Pradesh chief minister N.T. Ramarao began campaigning in a convertible called Chaitanya Rath, Radhanath Rath, the then editor of a popular Oriya daily, suggested in his column that Biju Babu should come out with a Kalinga Rath to match his Andhra counterpart. I brought the article to the notice of Biju Babu and he agreed,” said Pashupalak who with his master’s permission took the station wagon to a garage and got the words “ Kalinga Rath” inscribed on it. An air-conditioner was also retrofitted in the vehicle during the 1990s.

“I had also taken him to the airport on the Kalinga Rath, when he finally left for Delhi. We got a call that Biju babu had been admitted to the hospital and died,” he said. Since then the vehicle lies parked at the Naveen Niwas.

Pashupalak requested chief minister Naveen Patnaik and his sister Gita Mehta to preserve the vehicle in Biju babu’s memory.

One of Biju Babu’s close associates, octogenarian Sarada Prasad Mohanty, who is now in the BJP, said he had travelled through the length and breadth of the state in the Kalinga Rath.

The ruling BJD plans to organise puja and yajna on Sunday to mark the death anniversary of Biju babu. A meeting will also be organised at the party office on the occasion.

Naveen would visit the Swargadwar in Puri to offer homage Biju babu as he was cremated there.