You are one of the senior most leaders of the party. Why have you declined to contest the polls? Have you been asked to retreat to make space for others or are there other reasons?

There is no question of anyone putting pressure on me not to contest the polls. I thought it would be better for me not to jump into the fray so that I can get more time to campaign for the party. I feel I can better serve the party by not confining myself to any particular constituency.

But speculation is rife that you have been asked not to contest.

It is not a fact.

Your younger brother (two-time MLA Dr B.B. Harichandan) is in the poll fray. Would you like your son Prithiviraj Harichandan also to contest the elections?

When I contested in the past, my son did all the groundwork for me. He is interested to contest as a Lok Sabha candidate from Bhubaneswar and has applied for the party ticket. He is a known student leader and has a good organisational network. Now, the party has to take a call on his application. Taking his organisational abilities into account, he deserves a ticket. But, whatever the party decides is final.

Are you happy with the way the party tickets are being distributed? Even veteran Ashok Sahu, who did his best to nurture the Kandhamal Lok Sabha constituency, has been denied re-nomination by the party.

I have not gone into the details of it. As a senior leader of the party, I am mainly being consulted on public issues and issues concerning the state. This question relating to ticket distribution, I think, would be better answered by the people who are in charge of it.

But you should at least tell us whether every thing is going in the right way?

(Pause)....... I have nothing to say on this question..... Let us move to other questions.

It is an open secret that the BJP, with just six Assembly seats, is now a spent force in Odisha. What future do you foresee for your party?

There is a Modi wave sweeping the country and Odisha will certainly come under the wave. But we should strengthen our infrastructure to embrace the wave, otherwise we will have to pay the price. At the same time, the Congress-led UPA government will not be able to survive after this election because of various acts of omission and commission. So, the Congress will not be in a position to replace the BJD in the state. But, the BJP will (by capturing the space of Opposition.)

If there is a Modi wave sweeping the state, why did the BJP fail miserably in the recently-held urban elections across the state, including in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack?

No one can match the money and muscle power of the Naveen Patnaik government. The entire administration had supported the ruling party in the last urban polls. Despite adverse situations, the BJP got 15.2 per cent of the total votes in Bhubaneswar, which was only two per cent less from the previous election. This shows the inner strength of the BJP.

However, in other parts of the state, the party has not performed up to our expectations because of various factors. Do not equate the general elections and civic polls. Both are different. In the general elections, people vote with a greater cause in mind. You will see it once the election results are declared.

Could you please tell us what is the difference between the Modi wave now and the Vajpayee wave that had brought the NDA government to power?

Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s wave was a different one. Most of the political parties (NDA allies) had supported Vajpayee. Now, an atmosphere is being created in support of Modi. His wave will grip the entire country very soon as the people, particularly the youths, are attracted towards him. He is a magnet for them.

In order to strengthen its base in Odisha, the BJP central observers had supported a broader alliance with smaller parties in Odisha. But, it could not be materialised because the local leaders were opposed to any form of tie-up with them. Why?

An honest attempt was made to forge an alliance with smaller parties in the state. Senior functionaries of the party who were assigned with the responsibility informed the party that regional parties in the state were making unreasonable demands. They should have agreed to certain points raised by our leaders. But as they did not agree, the talks failed.

You are the chairman of the state BJP election manifesto committee. What are the issues that the party will highlight during the campaign?

There is corruption at all levels. Be it the mining scam as detected by the Justice M.B. Shah Commission, the allotment of lands in the capital city which has already been detected by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report, the fraudulent activities of the money deposit collection companies or scams in water resources department, there is rampant corruption all over. Farmers are committing suicide. The BJD government is tainted and has lost the trust of the people.

If farmers are committing suicide, how come the state government has received an award from the President for overall growth in production in the agriculture sector?

It is a mockery. There is distress sale of agriculture products. In the last decade, some 2 lakh 60,000 acre of agricultural land has been converted for non-agricultural purposes. This was also raised in Parliament. The irrigation potential of the state has not increased.

Despite these scams, there is a perception that Naveen has a lily-white image. How can you say that he has lost the confidence of people?

His image is a myth. If he is so honest, then why does not he voluntarily recommend a CBI probe into the mining scam and all other the issues raised by the Opposition? The government knows that its misdeeds will be thoroughly exposed if the CBI conducts a probe.

The BJP enjoyed power for nine years and you were one of the cabinet ministers. At that time you hardly raised these issues.

You are mistaken. You should not put the blame on us. The mining department has always been with the BJD, either with the chief minister or someone close to him in his party. All the functionaries of the department were fully controlled by the chief minister’s office. It was difficult to know what was going on in the department. In certain cases, when irregularities were found, we raised it in the cabinet meetings.

Now people from various sections of the society, even those who don’t subscribe to your ideology, are joining the BJP. Do you think it will help the party’s cause?

Yes. I, hope so. They must have joined being fully aware of our ideology.

(The interview was taken before the BJP distributed party tickets for all the phases and his son became its Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat nominee)