Bonhomie

A person wearing a Narendra Modi mask rides a rickshaw carrying another man wearing a mask of chief minster Naveen Patnaik. Picture by Ashwinee Pati. 

The reception that his BJD colleagues accorded him when he turned up in the Assembly after his release from jail must have warmed the heart of Banki MLA Pravat Tripathy. 
The MLA was suspended from the party soon after being arrested by the CBI in connection with the money deposit collection scam. 
Most of his ex-colleagues came up to him and shook hands and some started a conversation with him. 
But the person who made himself conspicuous by making an open declaration of supporting Tripathy was excise minister Damodar Rout. 
In an open display of solidarity, he was seen walking with Tripathy, hand in hand, in the Assembly corridor. He later told reporters that the Banki MLA was an old friend and no one could stop him from mixing with his old mate. 
Many wondered if it was a gesture of defiance as the chief minister is yet to take a call on lifting the suspension order against Tripathy. 

Clout counts 

The clout of parliamentary affairs minister and Bhanjanagar MLA, Bikram Kesari Arukh, seems to be growing in direct proportion to his closeness with chief minister Naveen Patnaik. 
Last week, when the chief minister was away in Delhi, it became clear that he was, for all practical purposes, the number two man in the cabinet. It was he who replied to the adjournment motion on anti-liquor violence in a Kendrapara village in the Assembly on behalf of the chief minister. 
Even otherwise, he is now widely perceived as the eyes and ears of the chief minister. It appears that Naveen gives him more precedence over the more experienced Surya Narayan Patro, Usha Devi and Sugyan  Kumari  Deo.  Arukh also hails from Ganjam, the home district of the chief minister. 

Sullen Jual

As many as six BJP leaders from the state have been included in the party’s national executive. Sources said the announcement has pampered the egos of some of the leaders. But it has failed to cheer Union tribal affairs minister and Sundergarh MP, Jual Oram, who along with his cabinet colleague Dharmendra Pradhan, has been included in the top body. Sources said Jual, who considers his nomination to be routine, remains sullen because the suspension order against his loyalist Ashok Sahu is yet to be revoked. 
The central leadership of the BJP having refused to interfere in the matter, the fate of Sahu now rests in the hands of the state party, where Jual is in a minority. 

Banners galore

Displaying banners has become the lawmakers’ chosen way of registering protests or making a point collectively in the Assembly. The Opposition parties made some of the most telling statements through these banners during the ongoing budget session of the legislature. Perhaps the best of the banners was the one that the Congress members flashed the day the issue of police action against anti-liquor protesters at a Kendrapara village was debated. It read: “mada pia na hele guli khaa (either consume liquor or be ready to face bullets). This was in response to the government’s claim that the police had only fired in the air and not on the protesters who ran riot in the village. “It was better than a thousand words spoken on the issue,” said an Opposition leader.

Where art thou? 

When a minister fails to report on time during the Question Hour in the Assembly, legislators usually take offence. However, on Friday the scenario was quite different. Many questions during the Question Hour went unanswered because of the absence of members instead of ministers. After six questions could not be taken up because of the absence of members, the Speaker called out the name of veteran Berhampur legislator Ramesh Chandra Chhaupatnaik. Though he is not keeping well, when informed that his name was being called, he came running into the House. 
But, by that time, the Speaker had moved to the next question, which came from Rajnagar MLA Anshuman Mohanty, who was very much present. Chhaupatnaik’s loss thus became young Mohanty’s gain. 

Ashutosh Mishra

Footnote

Battle for prominence

State BJP leaders appear to be engaged in a game of one-upmanship with the ruling BJD over the upcoming Nabakalebar festival, during which the new idols of Lord Jagannath and his siblings would be installed at their 12th century abode in Puri. Within days of the BJD accusing the NDA government of failing to make allocations for the Puri event in the Union budget, news has come that the Union culture and tourism minister would visit Bhubaneswar and Puri soon. 
Apparently, he is undertaking the visit at the request of the petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the face of the BJP in the state. Pradhan is keen to let the world know that the BJP is doing just as much, if not more than the BJD, to make Nabakalebar successful and stain free.