Realpolitik

Leaders from west Odisha, irrespective of their party affiliations, often flock together. But compulsions of realpolitik occasionally force them to take pot shots at ministers hailing from their area. This seems to have left housing and urban development minister Puhspendra Singh Deo, who comes from Kalahandi district, aggrieved. He was recently seen engaged in a chat with BJP leaders, Basant Panda and Pradeep Purohit, who also hail  from west Odisha, trying to convince them that they should stop skewering him as they all belong to the same region. Aware that the minister was appealing to their regional feelings deliberately, the two BJP leaders smiled and nodded their heads. One wonders if they will actually go soft on Singh Deo.

Attention 

Former minister and Bari-Derabis MLA Debashish Nayak has been trying to grab chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s attention rather desperately for past sometime. While he has been trying to stay as close to Naveen as possible during the BJD’s programmes, the other day he was seen rushing to the chief minister’s rescue inside the Assembly as the latter was waylaid by agitating scheduled caste and scheduled tribe Opposition MLAs. As these MLAs demanding enhanced reservation quota for SC and ST students in medical and engineering colleges fell at the chief minister’s feet in a theatrical fashion, Nayak rushed and sought to interpose himself between Naveen and the MLAs. The chief minister, however, appeared to ignore both him and the agitating legislators.

Pyari farewell 

In his farewell speech in the Rajya Sabha, Odisha Jan Morcha leader Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, whose term in the Upper House ends on July 1, did not fail to mention his former boss, chief minister Naveen Patnaik. The bureaucrat-turned-politician, who quit the BJD following serious differences with Naveen, said he would be failing in his duty if he did not thank the chief minister, who has turned into his political adversary now, for sending him to the Rajya Sabha twice. The two shared a bitter-sweet relationship and Mohapatra at one stage was so powerful in the BJD that he almost used to run the party on behalf of Naveen, who has been the president of the party since its inception. He fell out of favour following his alleged bid to topple Naveen when he was away on a foreign trip though the former bureaucrat has consistently denied the allegation.

Finicky MLA

The BJD’s Tirtol MLA Rajashree Mallick seems to be extremely health conscious and finicky about what she eats. The other day one saw her eating sparingly at the crowded banquet organised by the finance minister. Mallick, who was in news recently for her comments against her political rival and Jagatsinghpur district BJD chief Bishnu Das without naming him, refused to eat much despite being prodded by colleagues, including a young minister. Some of the scribes present at the banquet whispered that Mallick is taking care of her health as she is bracing up for a protracted battle with Das, who also happens to be the bête noire of excise minister Damodar Rout.

Poaching issue 

Problems appear to be mounting for forest and environment minister Bikram Keshari Arukh with no let up in cases of poaching and elephant deaths. To make things worse, posts of divisional forest officers have been lying vacant in two forest divisions. 

Wildlife campaigners have slammed the minister for not only keeping the posts vacant, but also failing to curb poaching in almost all the forest divisions and wildlife sanctuaries, including Similipal, the most famous of these sanctuaries. 
“Even the promise on the elephant corridor front has not been kept. Arukh seems to be taking it easy as he happens to be a confidant of the chief minister,” said an activist. 

FOOTNOTE

Leader problem

Internal differences of the state BJP unit are becoming increasingly clear with the party yet to find a new legislature party leader since the elevation of Basant Panda as the state unit president. At present, Panda, according to sources, is handling both the responsibilities. But, neither is he comfortable with this nor does the party believe in allowing a leader to hold two important posts. When Panda was made the state party president, it was believed that Patnagarh MLA K.V. Singh Deo, whom he replaced, would become the legislature party leader. But Singh Deo, for reasons best known to him, has made it known that he is not interested in shouldering the responsibility. With problems galore, the state BJP is still looking for a suitable persons to lead the legislature party.