Chief minister Naveen Patnaik is garlanded by party workers at the Biju Janata Dal rally in Berhampur and (above) Pyari Mohan Mohapatra addresses a media conference in Bhubaneswar on Friday. Pictures by PTI and Sanjib Mukherjee

Berhampur / Bhubaneswar, Oct. 19: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today used a public platform for the first time to hit out at friend-turned-foe Pyari Mohan Mohapatra.

“There has been an attempt to backstab me and the temple of democracy. I don’t mind who are with me and who leaves me as long as I have the support of four crore Odias,” said Naveen, without naming Mohapatra, while addressing a rally in Berhampur.

Today’s rally was the first show of strength by the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) since Mohapatra floated Odisha Jan Morcha. Naveen tore into Mohapatra at the MKCG Medical College ground in Berhampur with hundreds of green BJD flags fluttering in the breeze.

“It is not important who will stay with me for I know whether I remain in power or not, I will continue to serve the state. I will be at your service till the last breath of my life,” said Naveen.

Centre bashing

Naveen also indulged in a bit of Centre-bashing. “While states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal continue to get special packages from the Centre, Odisha’s demands have been ignored constantly. The Centre is doing it all for political benefits,” he said, citing poor development of railways in the state as the most glaring example of neglect.

The anti-Mohapatra mood was set with revenue minister Surya Naryan Patra describing Naveen’s decision to send the bureaucrat-turned-politician to the Rajya Sabha as an error of judgement. “Naveen Patnaik committed a mistake by sending him to the Rajya Sabha,” said Patra.

BJD youth wing president Sanjay Dasburma also aimed a blow at the Rajya Sabha member. “People will teach a lesson to those who are trying to hatch a conspiracy against Naveen Patnaik,” he said.

Counter-attack

Mohapatra launched a counter-offensive by refusing to recognise Naveen as the president of BJD.

“I don’t consider him to be the president of the BJD since he has failed to honour the constitution of the party and not called its executive committee meeting even once since the constitution was amended on January 10, 2010,” Mohapatra said.

“You will know who is BJD president when the party’s executive committee meeting is called, but I am not going to contest for that post,” he added.

Treading carefully, he said it was up to the media to guess how many party MLAs were with him. “You make your guess. But if you are talking of open support, then none of them is with me,” he said, implying that he still enjoyed the tacit support of a large number of BJD legislators.

Speaking on behalf of Odisha Jan Morcha, Mohapatra said the front would function within the framework of the BJD and strive to restore democracy in the party, of which he and his other front colleagues were still a part. He said he was pained to see that the chief minister, instead of encouraging democratic functioning in the party, had become the victim of coterie politics.

“He is surrounded by a caucus. But don’t ask me who they are. You know them just as much as I do,” he said.