Bhubaneswar: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who breathed his last in New Delhi on Thursday, had played a crucial role in the formation of the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD.
The BJD was born in 1997 out of the erstwhile Janata Dal with veteran BJP leader and Vajpayee's close aide Pramod Mahajan frequently visiting Odisha to influence the leaders who finally gave birth to the regional party.
Former minister and BJP leader, Bijoy Mohapatra, one of the architects of BJD, recalled how Vajpayee had encouraged the formation of the regional party and subsequently its alliance with the national party.
Vajpayee's connection with the Patnaiks stretches back to the JP movement days and later during his time as foreign minister in the Morarji Desai cabinet, where Naveen's father Biju Patnaik was steel and mines minister.
"When the BJD was born, Vajpayee had extended full support to the move. He had announced BJP's alliance with BJD in New Delhi," said Mohapatra,
The BJD-BJP alliance fought the Lok Sabha elections in 1998 and BJD became a partner in the NDA government led by Vajpayee. Later, Naveen led the BJD-BJP alliance to victory in Odisha in 2000.
The Odisha chief minister in 2004 dissolved the Assembly before completion of its five-year tenure to ensure simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly when the NDA had fought on its "India Shining" campaign.
Naveen, who had served as a minister in the Vajpayee cabinet for two years after his entry into politics in 1997, said: "His demise was a personal loss for me. I will always cherish my association with him, especially as it was during my initial years in politics. A statesman, who was admitted across the political spectrum is rare in politics."
BJD general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Prasanna Acharya, also acknowledged Vajpayee's strong support for the BJD.
Leaders of both the BJD and the BJP fondly recollected the special love of Vajpayee for Odisha.
Former state president of the BJP Debendra Pradhan, who was a minister in the Vajpayee government, said: "He had a special love for Odisha. When I was the Union minister of state for agriculture, I had given a proposal to open 30 krishi vigyan kendras in all the districts of the state and he had readily agreed to it. Similarly, he had a big contribution in the improvement of road connectivity. The national highways of Odisha were widely covered under his Golden Quadrilateral scheme."
Union minister Jual Oram recalled that Vajpayee had created the ministry of tribal welfare and had given him the portfolio.
"He also gave me a free hand in running the ministry," he added.
Recalling Vajpayee's contribution to Odisha, Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan said: "He had laid the foundation stone of Paradip oil refinery and the AlIMS in Bhubaneswar."
BJP leader Dilip Ray, who was a minister in the Vajpayee government, recalled his close association with him.
"I was fortunate enough to have worked under him twice as a minister. Once he had entrusted me with the task of negotiating with Jayalalithaa and Chandrababu Naidu," Ray said.
Another minister in Vajpayee's cabinet Braja Kishore Tripathy said: "He had supported our protest against the Nalco disinvestment move."
