• Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reaching Cuttack city today to place his government's report card. With Modi's focus on Odisha, the BJP is confident of putting up a good show in the coming election. Being the BJD Cuttack district unit president, how do you feel about it?

They are expecting to give a good performance in the coming elections basing on their performance in the last panchayat elections. But the irony is that after the panchayat election wherever any election was held, either in rural or urban area, they faced a humiliating defeat. Whether in Bijepur or at Hindol, the people are with Naveen Patnaik. Another issue that is that general elections are never influenced by verdict of the panchayat poll.

• After making inroads into Karnataka.. now BJP has set its eyes on Odisha...

People of the state have already understood that the Modi government stands on falsehood. When they had come to power in 2014, they had spoken about achhe din (good days), black money to be brought back and Rs 15 lakh to be deposited in each account. I still wonder where are these promises?

• Do you think that Modi's visit will not have any impact in the coastal belt, a BJD stronghold?

There will be no impact at all. The people have already understood that there are some conspirators sitting in Delhi, Chhattisgarh and even in Odisha who are working against the interest of the state. At their behest, the free flow of Mahanadi has been curtailed. We have noticed water level has been reduced in the Mahanadi and its tributaries. On the long term, the water level along the entire coastal belt will be depleted. There will be a severe impact on the ecology and the entire area will turn into a desert.

• BJP president Amit Shah has launched 120 mission (to get at least 120 Assembly seats in the 147-member House). As a part of that, Central leaders are coming to the state. Your party leadership must be worried over it...

We don't know what mission they are talking about - 120 or 420. They have already proved themselves as a party of 420. We have not set any target and have no mission to come to power. Our only mission is to serve the people.

• Modi will be in your district. What do you expect from the Prime Minister?

We are welcoming him to our state. But he should rise to the occasion and intervene in the Mahanadi issue. But the most unfortunate part is that despite Assembly committee's request for an appointment with him, unfortunately he did not give any time to the House committee.

• The Opposition, both BJP and Congress, are of the view that BJD is trying to reap political benefits from the Mahanadi campaign...

This is not a political issue. This is the issue of the common man residing in Mahanadi basin. This is the issue of every man of the 16 districts whose life is completely dependent on Mahanadi and its tributaries. No one should forget that Mahanadi is the lifeline of Odisha and there can not be any compromise on the issue.

• People have a perception that you were behind the attack on Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda. Even stones and eggs were hurled at him at your behest...

I have not targeted anyone. It's the people of Kendrapara who targeted him because he has not given proper attention to them.

• You must be happy that the chief minister has praised the work of the health department during his review meeting and he also talked about setting up medical colleges. When will all the medical colleges come up?

We have the aim to establish nine medical colleges. Five colleges have already been set up. We had started two medical colleges last year and this year also we are starting two more. But it is not possible to start each and every medical college at one go. We are creating all infrastructure in time. But the major issue is the availability of faculty. We are trying to manage the faculty and consequently one after another medical college will come up in the state in phase-wise manner. We hope that all the medical colleges will come up by 2020.

• What's the state of affairs in the health sector?

We have started as many as eleven new schemes and inked six agreements. Our motto is to provide free treatment to each person in the government hospitals. We have made provisions for chemotherapy and dialysis. Our intention is also to provide quality medical education and take right steps in this direction. We have achieved so many things and we are in a good position.

• What about the health university?

That's at the discussion level. We are more interested in the implementation of schemes and programmes which have direct impact on lives of the common man.

• Last week, Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan alleged that you were misleading the people about the achievements of health department. He had even demanded an apology from the chief minister on the issue...

Despite remaining in power for four years, they have not achieved a single promise they had made in their manifesto. Can they show a single instance which we have not fulfilled?

They (the BJP) believe in propaganda, but we believe in work. They are talking about the availability of government doctors in the state, but the irony is that we have AIIMS here. Even after five years of its existence, they have not been able to provide required doctors there. The state of affairs at the Bhubaneswar AIIMS position is pretty bad. The AIIMS is a premier medical institute and we have all support for the Bhubaneswar AIIMS. But unfortunately, the central government is not serious about it. Budgetary support is reducing day by day.

• Chief minister announced that Madhu Sudan Law College in Cuttack will be upgraded to a law university. Will it have a new campus?

We can think of a separate campus also. But it will be named after Madhu babu only. The chief minister has also announced to set up an advocate academy for training and skill development of lawyers. Our aim is to deliver justice at the doorsteps of the people. We have plans to set up 50 courts soon. Besides, we are going to establish judicial magistrate first-class (JMFC) courts at the block level.

• Being the law minister (Puri Jagannath temple administration is under law department), you will be in focus from next month for the upcoming Rath yatra. How are the preparations going?

This is Lord Jagannath's rath yatra. He will take care of himself. Last year, we had conducted the rath yatra peacefully and this year we are expecting it again to be a smooth affair.