This is the second time that you have been appointed as state Congress president. What do you think is your biggest challenge taking up leadership with elections staring in the face?

I am confident that I can take up any challenge. My last tenure as PCC president lasted for four years and eight months after which K.P. Singhdeo and Niranjan Patnaik took over. They have done their bit in strengthening the party. Now, I will go for aggressive campaigning against the non-functioning and corrupt Naveen Patnaik government. Bureaucrats are running the state.

Then what makes Naveen so popular? It was recently projected that he will come back to power again.

He won’t. The state government has been hijacking Central schemes like rice at Rs 2 per kg. Common people are now aware of that. Srikant Jena (Union minister of chemical and fertilisers) pointed out that the UPA government was providing 35 kg rice to 44 lakh BPL families but in reality only 25 kg was reaching the beneficiaries. When it was discussed in the Assembly, the civil supplies minister admitted that 10 kg was being kept aside and the state was adding its own rice produce to the quota to reach out to more families. Why should the government Centre’s resources and claim that the scheme is theirs?

Issues such as this have been raised from time to time. But why is it that the Opposition fails every time to sustain a campaign against the chief minister?

We have some lacunae as far as selection of candidates and aggressive, mass campaigning is concerned. In the last elections, we failed to give out a message that we are united. But only Jaydev Jena cannot change the scenario. All Congress leaders have to be united in this fight.

What about the involvement of the family of your senior party leader J.B. Patnaik?

I don’t want to bring J.B. Patnaik into the picture because he is serving as Assam governor.

But do you require the services of his family members in Congress?

I won’t comment on that. Let the people decide. The party high command had taken the feedback of people from different parts of Odisha and decided that a simple man should be appointed as PCC president. In my discussion with the high command, we decided to utilise the services of those who will work in a disciplined way to ensure that Congress returns to power in Odisha.

When K.P. Singhdeo was the PCC chief, he was asked to focus on organisational strengthening and, so, did not contest the polls. Will you also do the same?

If Sonia Gandhi-ji decides that I should only take care of party matters and not contest elections, I will abide by it. I will work hard to bring all leaders together to overthrow the Naveen Patnaik government.

Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, who was Naveen’s chief lieutenant earlier, has floated his own party. Given the fact that enemy’s enemy is a friend, are you keen to have an understanding with Pyari to topple the Naveen Patnaik government?

May god bless Pyari babu in toppling Naveen Patnaik. There has been no discussion about an understanding with him. Congress can fight on its own and form the government.

Theatre to politics

Jaydev Jena, who has an experience of grassroots politics, has taken over as president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) for the second time

A former minister in the state, the 62-year-old has represented Anandpur in Keonjhar district in the Assembly four times

Son of a farmer, Jena holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from the Anandpur College

During his student days, he used to be involved in theatre and acting but opted out of it due to family issues

He then took up a teaching job in a local English school and continued for five years. He resigned after being offered a Congress ticket to fight the Assembly elections from Anandpur in 1980

Jena was a cabinet minister in the Hemanand Biswal government in the 90s and became OPCC president for the first time in June 2004. His term lasted for nearly four years and eight months

In that capacity, he led the party to victory in two bypolls at Laxmipur and Talsara

But months before the 2009 Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, K.P. Singhdeo replaced him and later he became a secretary with the All India Congress Committee

Jena is considered an arch rival of his predecessor Niranjan Patnaik

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN HAD YOU NOT BEEN A POLITICIAN?

I was a stage artiste earlier and have acted in hundreds of plays as well as a couple of Odia films. I had thought that I would remain in this field for a lifetime but after completing graduation, I realised that circumstances in my family would not allow that. I looked for a job and started teaching in a school. I also used to devote myself to social activities of the youth Congress. In 1980, when (former chief minister) J.B. Patnaik was Union ministercumOPCC president, he offered me a party ticket. I resigned from my job, contested the polls and succeeded.