You are a leading lawyer. After you joined BJP, you must be finding it a bit difficult to handle court cases as well as political issues…

I am a full-time professional and part-time politician. I have spent more than 27 years in court rooms. When I am in the court room, I am a different person, while I am another person in the public field. There are many eminent lawyers in the party, including Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad. I had even fought cases of BJD leaders. When NCP MLAs had parted away and joined the BJD, I had argued in favour of them and their Assembly membership was retained. I had even fought for BJD vice-president Prasanna Acharya. I know how to make a balance between these two.

During your student days, you were associated with the Congress. You could have joined BJD or Congress. Why did you join the BJP instead?

According to my perception, the BJD is not a political party. It is a product of time. It's a party which is purely power oriented and not development oriented. Its president Naveen Patnaik is a leader by default. They could have taken the state to newer heights in the last 18-years. But they have utterly failed to deliver. On the other hand, the Congress has no ideology at the moment.  It is a highly divided party with lack of leadership and no commitment.

But why did you join BJP?  

It was not an abrupt decision, it was a conscious one. Since 1980s, I have been closely observing the party. Its two prime ministers - Atal Bihari  Vajpayee and Narendra Modi — have done for the country what no one else had done. As I have an inclination to join public life, I think the BJP is the right platform from where I can work for people.

For the last two to three years, the BJP has been eating into the space of the Congress. But, with the restructuring of the Congress and the appointment of new OPCC president, it seems the Congress is energising itself. Now, it will  be difficult for the BJP to take that space so easily... 

Haaa (laughs)… the time has come for the Congress’s further slide. The base of the Congress is eroding at a fast pace everywhere. People are no longer willing to accept the Congress, particularly under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. At the state level, the people have tested their leaders, including Niranajan Patnaik. People are not fools and are aware that the Congress leaders will not be able to give them good governance.

The BJP leadership is talking of Mission 120  Plus. What do you think of this goal?  

I am confident of achieving the target of winning 120 out of the 147 Assembly seats. The state government is  neck deep in corruption. Corruption is so rampant in the state that the government had to ask officers to stop taking "percentage". Naveen Patnaik being the head is responsible for the entire state of affairs. A person is known by the company he keeps.

But, on what basis you are making such a tall claim of wining 120 Assembly seats?   

You have perhaps not felt the anger of people against the BJD. I am frequently visiting the rural areas and have seen their love for Narendra Modi and anger for the Naveen Patnaik government. 

People are aware of everything, including the mining scam and how justice M.B. Shah Commission had mentioned the Rs 59,000 crore loss to the state due to corruption in mining.  But the state government had slapped penalties of only Rs 17,000 crore and it failed to collect even this amount. There is an undercurrent against the government and it will soon be reflected in the elections. Even Naveen babu will face defeat in his constituency.

It seems like a daydream....

Don’t forget that Biju babu had lost five seats in an election. Just wait and see.

Even after facing a crushing defeat in Bijepur Assembly by-election, you are still talking of winning 120 seats?

The BJD had marshalled all its resources, including  official machinery, and deployed  nearly 87 MLAs  for Bijepur bypoll. We were not able to match all that despite our best efforts. But still, we got 62,000 votes which is not a small achievement.

But, the BJP lost miserably to the BJD in the  Jajpur Zilla Parishad bypoll even on Thursday

We are unable to match the MV Black Rose (the ship that sank off Paradip coast with iron ore fines) money.  We had not even concentrated on the by-poll. They got money from everywhere, including mining scam, Ponzi scam and other sources, to spend on the election.

There are allegations that the BJP is doing politics on every issue and is even trying to politicise the issues concerning Lord Jagaannath? 

Do you think we should remain silent spectators on an issue that is attached to sentiments of 4.5 crore of Odia and 85 crores Hindus? In 1983, a temple foundation fund was set up for the protection of hundi receptacles.  
The chief minister was the chairman of that committee. But, not a single meeting of the committee ever took place. Even there were reports of about 4kg of jewellery going missing. It's a criminal breach of trust.

But are you not trying to divert the attention of people from the Mahanadi water-sharing issue? What is the BJP’s stand on the row? The Chhattisgarh government has not done anything wrong?

We have made our stand clear on the Mahanadi row. But at the same time, we would like to know what the state government had been doing over the last 18 years. It is their achievement that they have built barrages on the river, whereas we failed to protect our interest. It was our leader Dharmendra Pradhan who tried to arrange meetings with everyone at the Centre to settle the issue, but the state government did not do its part. All it did was to politicise the issue.

Whatever you say, Naveen is still popular among the masses and the people are reposing their confidence in him again and again…

What popularity are you talking about? He has so far managed to win majority in the Assembly as there was  no effective Opposition. But, time has changed. 

There is no regard for constitutional bodies in Naveen’s regime. He has even eroded the dignity of the sarpanches by launching Ama Gaon Amma Vikash Yojana under which the government aims to spend around Rs 1,200 crore.  This attitude is a threat to democracy.

There is a talk that the BJP and the BJD may forge an alliance like they had done in the past?

Our party president Amit Shah has already clarified on the issue of alliance with the BJD. After that, there is no need to talk about this kind of speculation.

You are from non-RSS background. Can you rise in a party whose decisions are mostly influenced by the RSS?

Now I am seeing the activities of the RSS closely. I have never found such a disciplined and dedicated organisation committed to the cause of the nation. What is wrong if they suggest something good for the party? I also make it clear that the RSS never interferes in the political activities of the BJP. There are many non-RSS people in the BJP who have flourished in the party and have been able to carve a niche for themselves.

Will you contest in the forthcoming General Elections?  What seat will you prefer — the Assembly or the Lok Sabha? 

I have not come to the party with any such ambition. If the party wants me to contest, I will certainly join the fray. In politics, there should be quality people. Though we find quality people in politics in other states, Odisha is lagging behind.

Don’t you think it’s the same with the state BJP?

There are a lot of quality people here in the state BJP compared to other parties. It’s a cadre-based party and there are people here who are working selflessly only to serve the society. Though Dharmendra Pradhan is three years junior to me, I have been attracted to him because of his leadership qualities.

Who is your chief ministerial candidate?

That decision will be taken by the party leadership. There is no lack of leaders in the state BJP. But there is nothing wrong if the party projects Dharmendra as its chief ministerial candidate.