Dharmendra Pradhan. Telegraph picture

Dharmendra Pradhan, 44, is among the most powerful BJP leaders hailing from Odisha. At present, he is the party’s national general secretary and a Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar. The articulate leader speaks to The Telegraph on Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to the state and more.

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, tipped to be BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 polls, will visit Puri on July 16 to seek blessings from Lord Jagannath. What political significance does it hold for your party since this is his first trip to Odisha as the chairman of the BJP election campaign committee?

He is coming here not for political reasons. He is only interested in participating in the rath yatra festivities like every other Jagannath devotee. Gujarat has a long association with the Jagannath culture.

After Modi’s elevation as the campaign committee chief, BJP veteran L.K. Advani resigned from all party positions, including the Parliamentary board. The fact that BJP is a divided house has become evident. How will it affect the party’s prospects in the coming elections?

BJP is not a divided house. Since Advaniji is the party patriarch, we don’t deem it proper to debate or discuss his opinions. Moreover, he has nowhere said that he is opposed to Narendra Modi. He has only raised certain issues which senior leaders of the party are now trying to sort out. A majority of the country’s population doesn’t want the Congress government back in power and BJP, being the biggest Opposition party, will be a suitable alternative. Modi has emerged as an undisputed, inspiring and popular leader who is acceptable to the younger generation, deprived sections and women.

If BJP is a suitable alternative and has inspiring leaders such as Modi, why did it suffer a humiliating defeat in Karnataka elections in May with Congress getting majority votes?

Winning and losing is part and parcel of politics. In Karnataka, we had issues such as groupism within our party, which led to our defeat. In the national context, however, Modi will be a key factor and his popularity will definitely help us overthrow the Congress government.

Groupism apparently exists in the BJP Odisha unit, too. Won’t that adversely affect your party’s prospects in the 2014 polls?

We did not have enough support in the last elections, but are very hopeful that our fortune will change this time. It was our foolishness that we waited for Naveen Patnaik to break the BJD-BJP alliance on the eve of 2009 elections. We should have withdrawn support right after Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati (a Hindu seer) was murdered in Kandhamal in August 2008 and the police and state administration were unmoved. We failed to understand Naveen Patnaik’s deceitful ways.

So is the BJP leadership to be blamed for not withdrawing from the alliance government?

It wasn’t any particular individual’s fault. The state unit of BJP should have taken that decision collectively. Basically, our aim has always been to present ourselves as an alternative to the Congress rule. A non-Congress government has been possible in Odisha because of the BJP’s contribution. The BJD would not have had any basis today without the initial support and image of the BJP.

There are talks about a possible tie-up between BJP and Odisha Jan Morcha, headed by former BJD leader Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, for 2014 polls.

Have you ever heard the BJP party members talking about it? Our state president K.V. Singhdeo has given clarifications several times in this regard.

But BJP Odisha affairs in-charge Chandan Mitra has indicated that there is a possibility.

He is not authorised to say anything about this matter. A decision about a tie-up will be taken at two levels – at the national level and state level. Our party president has discussed the issue with the high command and it has been decided that we will fight the elections on our own strength.

BJP is perceived as a communal party. Your party president has also announced to make Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati’s murder your poll agenda. How do you plan to secure votes of the minority community?

As far as I know, that is not our poll agenda but our commitment is to avenge his death. He was a revered leader and we will never do politics in his name. Secondly, we are not a communal organisation. Our rival parties, which want minority communities to lag behind, are indulging in this negative publicity of the BJP. The UPA-I in 2005 had constituted the Sachar Committee, which found out that the status of the minorities in BJP-led Gujarat was the best. Similarly, Goa is a Christian-dominated state but six Catholic MLAs are part of the ruling BJP government.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is said to be the remote control of the BJP because of which a number of leaders have quit the party. How has a RSS background helped you rise in the party?

RSS is our ideological inspiration, our source of social vision and commitment. We take pride in that.

You started your political career as an ABVP activist. Why is the organisation’s influence gradually diminishing in Odisha?

Today, the youth are very conscious and focussed about their career. So, the character of the campuses has undergone a sea change. That is why you may not be seeing those traditional student movements anymore. However, ABVP is still contributing greatly to building youth leaders.