A debate is going in the Congress to follow the principle of one-man, one-post. Will it be applied  at the time of ticket distribution?

This is nothing new. This  is an old  principle. Sometimes there have been deviations taking ground realities into consideration. At the time of ticket distribution, our priority will be winnability. Young and new faces will be given priority. People with criminal background will not be given tickets.

Don’t you think that the old guard aspiring to get tickets may rebel if denied tickets?

We will take care of every one. Now the time has come for everyone to bring the party to power instead of focusing on petty issues. I don’t think it is a very difficult situation. We will go both the ways. 

The party has announced to give tickets to its candidates much before the elections.  Has the process begun?

We want to give enough time to our leaders to put things in order in their constituencies. We don’t want to create a situation in which the aspirants are waiting till the last  moment  to get the ticket. We want to decide the issue of ticket distribution in advance.

With the elections barely an year away will the Congress be able to reorganise itself?

Yes,  but it’s  a very difficult job. The way both the BJD and the BJP are spending money, we cannot match them. But we are trying to overcome our shortcomings by our hard work. We are trying to physically reach out to people to know their problems and plight. If we reach the people and tell them about the misdeeds of the ruling party and the BJP and win their confidence, the result is bound to come. Now, my job is to reorganise and unite the party.

People are tired of 18 years of the BJD government. At the same time, they are probably not happy with the BJP for misleading the people on each and every issue. The people have also realised that the BJP will not match their expectations. Perhaps, that is the reason why people are seeing Congress as an alternative. Now we have to prove that we will match their expectations unlike others.

Just like Narendra Modi and Naveen Patnaik, you are also using the social media in an aggressive way these days …

I am trying to move with time. I cannot say about others. But every morning, I decide what should go in the social media.

BJD has launched the Green Mahanadi Mission after Save Mahanadi campaign. It has been able to send a message that it is fighting to protect the interest of Odisha on Mahanadi.

We don’t want to politicise the issue like the BJD and BJP. We want that Mahanadi, the lifeline of Odisha should be protected at any cost. All should be united on this.  In my opinion, a situation is likely to come when Mahanadi will turn into the sorrow of the state. For the bad  condition of the Mahanadi, the BJD is the  number one culprit as it did not take up the issue at the right time and allowed the Chhattisgarh government to go ahead with the construction of dams one after another for the last 18 years. The BJP is the number two culprit for it has taken a partisan attitude and is favouring the Chhattisgarh on the issue.

BJD president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik is talking of maintaining equidistance from both the BJP and the Congress. It seems the next elections will see a triangular fight. What do you think?

This is the joke of the decade. The BJD is very much with the BJP. Otherwise, they would have supported the no-confidence motion. They did not even take part in the debate. While several non-BJP chief ministers flew to Karnataka to attend the swearing-in ceremony of H.D. Kumaraswamy, Naveen did not go and even did not send any emissary. He wants to remain in  the good books of Modi. So at this point, talking of equidistance has no relevance at all.

After Naveen inaugurated the Gurupriya Bridge, a war of words has begun among political parties to take the credit for it. An attempt was made even to deny the state government of its due credit. Why?

I must  thank Naveen Patnaik for translating the dream of J.B. Patnaik into reality by dedicating the Gurupriya bridge to the people of the cut-off area of Malkangiri district. It was J.B. who had dreamt of giving connectivity to cut-off areas. The bridge has come up finally which was a longstanding demand of the people of the area. But at the same time, I must say this bridge should have been completed earlier. The delay was shocking.

How can you say this?

Yes, it was during J.B.’s period that the work for the bridge was initiated.  Even the tender work had been done and the contractor was awarded the work. But the work could not be executed due to increase in Maoist menace there. However, the bridge was inaugurated by Naveen like the IOCL’s Paradip project which had begun during the UPA regime, but was inaugurated by Narendra Modi. The BJP had launched a campaign to take the credit for the Paradip project. It is the same in the case of BJD with regard to the Gurupriya bridge.

If Congress has to make post-poll alliance, with whom will you go?

With the like-minded parties having secular credentials.

It indicates that you will be going with the BJD if such a situation comes…

I have not said so. Let the BJD decide whether they can  break their relations with the BJP.

Before 2014, it was said that BJD was in league with the Congress…

It was a rumour.

Picture by Ashwinee Pati