BJP national president Amit Shah launched a mission for winning 120+ Assembly seats during his recent visit to the state. The call seems to have galvanised his party’s workers here. How do you respond to it?

The call of Shah will turn out to be the biggest hoax. Their prime objective is to create an atmosphere and give an impression that the public are aligning with them. They have to remember that Odisha is not a stock exchange where numbers game will succeed.  In public life, people are supreme. They will decide who will form the next government.

Still, what is your assessment?

Politics is not astrology and I am not an astrologer. I cannot say how many seats our party will win. For the last 17 years, the BJD, under Naveen Patnaik’s leadership, has been taking up a number of development projects for the welfare of people. Since we are serving the people selflessly, it is certain that we will form government next time. No one can stop that. 

There is speculation that the anti-incumbency factor may spoil your party’s dream to come to power again... 

Yes, being in the politics for the last four decades, I understand the importance of anti-incumbency factor.  Our seat strength may come down by 20 or 25, but we cannot be zero. At the same time, how the BJP, which has just 10 MLAs in the 147-member Assembly, can reach the magic number (74) to form the government? They have to understand that their magic won't work in Odisha. Of course, they are relying on money power to win the election. But they have to remember that money is not the absolute factor in an election.

But they claim to be making the assessment after a proper research on public mood… 

It seems impossible and irrelevant.  What public mood are they taking about? They have forgotten the minimum decency to be shown to our chief minister, who is a popular figure. They termed Naveen babu as a “burnt transformer” and used words such as “ukhadke phek do” (throw away the government). Is it the language they should use against a chief minister who has been ruling the state for consecutive 17 years with a massive mandate? 

Shah did not term Naveen a burnt transformer but equated his government to it as it has “failed to bring development despite Centre pumping in huge money” into the state... 

This is again wrong. He is not the accountant general. He does not know about governance. Besides, Odisha is entitled to get its due share.  The Centre is only distributing the central taxes it has collected from the states. Our country has a federal structure and there should be overall development of all the areas and not specific areas. Just recall Jawaharlal Nehru and try to understand why did he agree to set up the Hirakud reservoir on Mahanadi in Sambalpur and Rourkela Steel plant. He could have set them up at other places. But he wanted to develop the entire country, not a specific area. But the Modi government is acting differently.

They have an agenda to develop the eastern region… 

What agenda are you talking about? We have been witnessing and experiencing it for the last three years. Our country’s economic growth has taken a nosedive. Once our GDP was more than that of China, but a time will come when it will go even below Pakistan’s GDP.

If the BJD is so much annoyed with the BJP why did your party support its presidential candidate and also extended to support GST Bill. Perhaps, your leadership is scared of the BJP as CBI probe into deposit collection scam is going on... 

This is only a media perception. We had supported the BJP candidate for his vast experience and in view of the need of the time. But when the question of vice-president came, we supported Gopal Krishna Gandhi that reflects our stand on maintaining equi-distance from both the BJP and the Congress.

After the panchayat polls BJP has a feeling that public opinion is with them. Now they are building up party’s organisational base to cash in on the public mood… 

Yes, we are aware of it. They have launched the campaign ‘Mo booth sabutharu majboot’  (My polling booth is strong)... but let me tell you that it will boomerang.  You have to remember that they don’t have members at the booth level. But we have members at the ward level. Another programme they have launched is ‘Sabka saath sabka vikash’.  The government money and machinery is being used for the purpose.

You have been criticised for saying that the percentage system cannot be completely eradicated… 

Corruption cannot be eradicated completely from the society.  You need a mindset.  We have inherited it from the Raj … it has ruined our system.  Knowing that huge funds are being given to the panchayats and blocks to undertake various developmental schemes, Naveen babu raised the issue of percentage system.  His warning against percentage system has worked with a fear psychosis haunting officials. Many people have been put behind bars.

What are your views about those dropped from the ministry? Has it enhanced the image of the chief minister? 

It’s the prerogative of the chief minister to form his council of ministers.  Those who have been dropped are also my colleagues.  The chief minister sometimes shuffles the ministry to engage some senior people in party work.

You are heading the agriculture department. But the state is yet to come out with a report on the issue of protecting the rights of sharecroppers. 

The ministerial committee headed by the revenue minister is looking after the draft report submitted by the officers’ committee. Hope the revenue minister will expedite the whole thing.

Why the state government is not considering the demand to waive agricultural loans? 

I will certainly plead for this with the chief minister. But the Opposition should give us the list of farmers in whose case a waiver should be applicable. However, the Reserve Bank of India is against waiving of loans.

You have taken exception to chief minister’s meeting with Union minister Dhramendra Pradhan on the issue of Paradip oil refinery concessions. Has the issue been buried following Pradhan’s elevation to the cabinet rank? 

Let Pradhan first get elected from Odisha. Why are you people projecting him as the chief ministerial candidate? There is another cabinet minister from the state — Jual Oram.

But why are you so upset with Pradhan? He is doing a lot for the state… 

I am annoyed with Pradhan after seeing rampant corruption in the Paradip oil refinery. I demand a CBI inquiry into it. When Atal Behari Vajpayee had laid the foundation stone for the refinery, only Rs 1 lakh had been spent on the event. But when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated it, a whopping Rs 12 crore was spent only for the event. It’s not Pradhan’s money, but public money. At the same time, various local issues including employment for local people in the refinery has not been addressed.

Are you happy with the salary hike?  

I will not comment on it as a minister.  But I am worried about the social disparity such hikes are going to create.

You have already paid a heavy price for your loose tongue. But you continue to talk the same way… 

I was taught by my political guru Biju babu to be outspoken, swabhimani (self-respecting) and truthful.  He also told me not to acquire property and run after money. He asked me to be with the people.

Your party colleague Bijoyshree Routray has announced retirement from elections. What about you?   

There is no retirement age for politicians. Being in public life is not a luxury. It is hard work. I would love to be with the people.