After being in jail for nearly four months in the Artha Tatwa money deposit scam, you are back in public life. You are the first politician in the state to secure bail from the court in the scam. How do you feel to attend the Assembly session after a gap

I am neither nervous nor excited. As usual, I am going to the Assembly and attending the session. To be honest, I felt touched when my colleagues, cutting across party affiliations, greeted my presence in the House. They tried to console me. I felt very happy... Most of them are my colleagues for the last two decades (Tripathy is fourth term MLA).

But none of them had gone to meet you when you were in the Jharpada jail and were passing through a bad phase...

I never expected my party MLAs and ministers to come and meet me in the jail. Had they gone, they would have faced humiliating situations. I am not at all aggrieved for that. I had expected that my family members and people of Banki (his Assembly constituency) should meet me. They did shower me with their love and affection.

Which party are you talking about? (Tripathy was suspended by the Biju Janata Dal on October 31, 2014, shortly after the CB

(pauses) By putting this question to me, you have made me conscious that I have been suspended from my party. Let me clarify, I begun my career on a non-Congress platform. I am attached to Biju Patnaik's ideals and believe in the leadership of Naveen Patnaik. There is no chance for me going to any other party.

At the moment, I am technically suspended from the BJD, but my heart is with the BJD.

It must have crossed your mind that if you fail to attend the Assembly session, you will have run the risk of losing its membership?

As per the parliamentary practice, if a member does not attend the Assembly session for 60 consecutive days, he or she loses the membership. I am aware of the law, but I was not worried. I have faith in God. Ultimately truth will come out.

You are reposing so much faith in Naveen, have you talked to him after the money deposit scam surfaced and after you came out of the jail?

I had last met him in August last year before I was implicated in the Artha Tatwa money deposit case. Our party is different from others and believes in transparency.

I thought it would be improper for me to call on my party president at that point of time. Let the truth come out, then I will present my case. There was no hurry. Now being an MLA, I will certainly seek time to meet the chief minister and take up the problems pertaining to my constituency. There is no problem in that (Tripathy met the chief minister on Thursday).

But don't you think that the party had acted in haste and did not take the right step by suspending you? It could have waited till the final verdict.

It was a collective decision by the party at that time. Taking the circumstances into consideration, the party had no option but to suspend me. Had you been there in that situation, you would have taken the same decision. I am not aggrieved at all. One must understand that my party is different from other parties.

Your party MP from Cuttack, Bhartuhari Mahtab was the only one who made a statement that he smelt politics in the CB>

Yes, I had come across his statement while in jail. He had made the observations from his own point of view.

If you analyse the entire investigation process at this moment, you will realise that there was some truth in his statement. I have all faith and confidence in judiciary. I know the truth will come out and I will get justice in due course of time.

Don't you feel that you have been victimised because of the money circulation deposit scam?

In fact, I have been trapped. The way CB> arrested me on the basis of a fake CD and then chargesheeted me... I feel trapped.

The CD purportedly contained your voice. You were heard demanding money from AT group chief Pradeep Sethy for the Banki Festival.

Let me clarify that some people have painted the festival like an international-level event that involves crores of rupees. However, the fact is that it is a sub-divisional cultural festival where 40 to 50 stalls are set up every year.

The entire budget of the festival, which started in 2000, varies between Rs 5 and 6 lakh. We generate the money by publishing a souvenir in which people give advertisements. In this case, we had not even received a single advertisement and any assistance from the AT Group either in the form of cash or kind. I still stand by my statement that the voice in the CD is not mine.

But another allegation was that the AT Group chief was awarded the best co-operator award at your instance in 2010. (Tripathy was the president of the state co-operative union)

We used to give prizes to different people and organisations for their contributions to the co-operative sector. In fact, a nine-member team, including myself, had decided that the AT Group should be given the award as it had done some work in the field. At that time, we were not aware that he was in the money deposit circulation business. The decision to award his group was a collective one and not my personal decision.

How are you related to Ranjan Dash, another accused in the case who appeared in some photographs with you?

I have known him as a travel agent since 2000. A number of people used to visit my house for various purposes as I am a public figure and he also used to visit my place. I did not have any idea that he was in the money deposit business. For a politician, it is a bit difficult to know the antecedents of all the people you meet.

When you were in jail, you must have missed the public life - meeting people, discussing various issues. What was the life inside the jail?

Jail life is confinement. Six of us - two former MLAs, Mayurbhanj MP Ramachandra Hansdah, a newspaper owner, a police officer and myself - used to stay in a big room. For security reasons, the prison authorities did not allow us to stay with other undertrial prisoners. I spent my time reading books and magazines. It was difficult to take the jail diet, particularly rice. I also skipped taking non-vegetarian items.

In jail, they serve dinner at 4pm, which we are not used to at home.

When you got prepared to leave the jail, what was the reaction of your jail mates, particularly Mayurbhanj MP Ramchandra Hansdah?

He is also hopeful to get bail. I pray for him. We have all realised that this is part of life - the life of a politician is not a bed of roses, there are thorns too.

What was your wife's reaction when you were detained by the CB>

She was upset for sometime. But she knew that I had not committed any mistake. Now she has learnt to face life and is aware that we have to face a long battle.

The judicial process involves huge expenses. How will you meet it?

As I have been implicated because of the Banki Festival, the festival of the people of Banki, they have come forward to assist me. A bond money of Rs 10lakh was donated by them. They have also assured me of financial help till I am acquitted.