Hot seat - Pyari Mohan Mohapatra

Odisha Jan Morcha president and Rajya Sabha member

You have announced Odisha Jan Morcha (OJM) as your new political party and stated that you would win at least 80 to 85 seats in the 2014 Assembly elections. What is the basis of your confidence?

These calculations are based on some principles and survey. In 2009, my predictions that BJD, on its own, would win more than 103 seats and BJP would manage only a few, came true. I had also given the list to the latter in this regard, which proved correct. Now, also my prediction won’t go wrong as Naveen (Patnaik)’s image has taken a beating.

So you think you can defeat Naveen?

All like-minded parties should be united and leave no scope for division of votes. I am exploring the possibility of an alliance with the BJP. However, if the four parties (BJD, BJP, Congress and OJM) contest separately, Naveen may not be able to win the election with a huge margin, but will still be closer to the number of seats required to form the government.

You claim to have two “Brahamastras” (celestial weapons) against Naveen. What are they?

I have already launched the Brahmastras and it will explode just on the eve of the elections. One is linked to corruption in the coal sector. At my behest, one person from my hometown has already filed a PIL relating to the scam in which Delhi-based Sainik firm was given undue favour. Naveen has been named in the petition. Just wait and watch how the corrupt Naveen Patnaik government is exposed.

You have given an open invitation to BJD members to join your party. Are you hopeful that some will join hands with you?

Some BJD MLAs are in touch with me but I have asked them not to contact me. However, I have set a 30-day deadline for them to join me. After that, their request will not be entertained.

Some BJD leaders have said when you have not won as a ward member in municipal elections, you shouldn’t dream about forming the next government. What would you say?

Why should I contest municipal elections? In 2004, Naveen offered me a ticket from Dhenkanal constituency. I asked him if he could manage the elections if I was away. Naveen realised he could not spare me at that juncture and said that my service was required for the entire state. However, things changed gradually. Now, time has come to show Naveen his position.

When did things start changing?

2009 onwards. Our differences began when I raised my voice against rising corruption in the party and bureaucracy taking major decisions. During a public meeting just after the 2009 polls, some hoardings had been pitched at the venue. Mine was larger than life, Naveen’s was half of that. Biju (Patnaik) babu’s photo was missing. Since Naveen has always been insecure about his future, he started maintaining a distance from me. I tried to sort out our differences but nothing worked.

You were Naveen’s confidant at one point of time but now he has called you a betrayer.

I have not betrayed him. Naveen has betrayed me. I worked relentlessly to safeguard his interests and that of the BJD. Because of my efforts, the party won both 2004 and 2009 elections. However, gradually, an MP and two MLAs, who are also insecure, started poisoning his mind. They were successful in making him believe that I was a threat to him as I had picked most MLAs while Naveen did not even know them.

So, is that why you decided a coup against him?

I have clarified time and again that there was no coup. I resent these questions. The idea of a coup was created by a section of media at the behest of an MP. He even sent some musclemen and media persons to remain outside my house. How could a coup have been organised in their presence? It was a game plan monitored and supervised by Naveen. I was a fool not to understand it then. Allegations that I booked 60 rooms for MLAs at a Bhubaneswar hotel or making a Rs 200-crore deal at a Rourkela hotel was also proved baseless by the crime branch and vigilance officers.

There are allegations that you earned a lot from the mining sector and are now sitting on piles of money that you will use for the coming elections.

Let there be an enquiry. If a CBI inquiry is ordered into the mining scam, I won’t land in trouble, Naveen will. The Centre will put a noose around Naveen’s neck like it is doing in the case of Mulayam Singh and Mayawati. My election funds will come from public donation. There are many who can contribute Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 to OJM.

Raids have been conducted on various business establishments allegedly linked to you. Do you feel that your supporters are being victimised deliberately?

My supporters are being targeted but I must clarify that the raids on Seashore and ARSS are not related to me. There have been attempts to associate me with the business houses but in vain.

You played a crucial role in the ouster of your so-called arch rival Bijoy Mohapatra in 2000 and rejection of candidature of Ranendra Pratap Swain before the 2009 Assembly elections. What was your aim?

I have gradually realised that it wasn’t my undoing but Naveen who staged a drama to throw Bijoy Mohapatra out. In case of Raja Swain, I had no involvement. He had hidden his authorisation documents and produced a photocopy while filing his nomination. He was not the public’s top choice. So, he orchestrated the whole thing to elect a dummy candidate in his place.

You have been accused of having Maoist links. You even inducted Sangram Mohanty, who was arrested for alleged Maoist connection, into OJM.

I was a member of the Community Party of India’s students’ wing and had a good equation with Ramesh Panda, father of Sabyasachi Panda (Odisha Maobadi Party chief). I had shared this information with Naveen. So, he is using it against me now. That is why the new DGP (Prakash Mishra) has been appointed. If Sabyasachi surrenders, he will be forced to say that I supported him financially and otherwise, just to tarnish my image and make me dysfunctional for at least three months.

‘Chanakya’ to party chief

Once hailed as chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s Chanakya, Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, 73, is the president of the new political party, Odisha Jan Morcha (OJM) - a forum he had floated following his ouster from the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in June last year. He is also a Member of Parliament representing Odisha in the Rajya Sabha

Born and brought up in Talcher (Angul), Mohapatra was educated at Ravenshaw University in Cuttack, Allahabad University and London School of Economics. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and master’s degree in political science besides a diploma in development administration

A 1963-batch IAS officer, Mohapatra was the principal secretary of the late Biju Patnaik when he ruled the state between 1990 and 1995. He is also considered to be the brain behind the formation of the BJD towards the end of 2007 and for the stupendous success of Naveen as a leader. Many even perceived him as the “second power centre” of the regional party

Mohapatra was axed from the BJD following an alleged coup attempt against Naveen on May 29 last year, while the three-time CM was on a London tour. Subsequently, he resigned as the party's parliamentary group leader and formed a new outfit, OJM, that he has now converted into a full-fledged political party

What would you have been had you not been a bureaucrat-turned-politician?

I was in politics before I joined the Indian Administrative Services. But even while I was a bureaucrat, I had a keen interest in politics. Unlike most of my batch mates, I worked at the grassroot level instead of sitting in the office during my 14-year career.

When I was in school, I enacted the role of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on two occasions. He was my role model. I also worshipped Marx, Lenin and Stalin.

At the age of 13, I was the only school member in the state executive of All India Students’ Federation. So, politics has always been a part and parcel of my life. IAS was only an interlude.