Lulu’s sour grapes

Congress in Orissa has been synonymous with squabbles and factional feuds. The party is in the throes of a fresh bout of dissensions following the announcement of its new office bearers. The former working president of Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee, Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra aka Lulu, who has now been reduced to the status of just an executive committee member, has been the most vocal person in his criticism of the reorganisation exercise. In his opinion, hardworking and charismatic leaders capable of restoring the Congress back to power in the state, where it was unseated in 2000, have been completely ignored. On the other hand, Lulu’s adversaries describe it as a case of sour grapes. “He is grumbling because he has lost his high perch,” said one of them.

Backlash fear

Having sensed the possibility of a backlash, Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik has cleverly sought to dissociate himself from the just effected reorganisation of the state unit. Instead of trying to contain the discontent triggered by the exercise in certain sections of the party, he appears to be more worried about his own image. He sought to wash his hands off the entire controversy dropping subtle hints that the reorganisation was masterminded by former Union minister Jagdish Tytler, the AICC-appointed minder of Orissa’s Congress affairs. Tytler, though, doesn’t care two hoots about what Patnaik or any other state leader thinks of the exercise. He believes the best possible team has been picked up.

Debi’s avatar

In his new avatar as the forest and environment minister, Debi Mishra has been quite active. He seems to have chosen the sponge iron industry for special treatment by constantly picking up loopholes in its environment control mechanism. Backed by the minister, the state pollution control board recently pulled up a number of sponge iron units for violating environmental norms. More importantly, unlike chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who earlier held the forest and environment portfolio, Mishra makes it a point to make important announcements before the media himself. Officials in the department agree that the minister knows the art of keeping himself in the spotlight. He won’t let the mandarins take the credit away from him.

Cool minister

For all his self-effacing ways, steel and mines minister Raghunath Mohanty invariably finds himself surrounded by byte-seeking electronic media journalists. With something or other happening almost everyday on the mining front, there seems to be no escape from their clutches for Mohanty, who is not one to run away from queries. The minister, though, has found himself in trouble once or twice in the past because of pesky mediapersons. One such occasion was when journalists kept following him relentlessly for quotes following a controversy over his name having allegedly been used by some people to defraud a mine owner from Jharkhand. The controversy rattled Mohanty but to his credit he continues to be fair and friendly towards all mediapersons.

Colleagues now

Not so very long ago, Sarat Kar and Sheikh Matlub Ali used to be rivals in Mahanga, the prestigious coastal Orissa constituency, facing each other in the elections. Their battles were keenly watched as unlike run-of-the-mill politicians they had refined manners and hardly ever stooped to undignified levels for the sake of political gains during campaigning. By a quirk of fate, both of them are now in the same party - the Congress. While Matlub Ali is one of the six newly-appointed vice-presidents of the state Congress, Kar has been made a permanent invitee to the Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee. One wonders how they greet each other when they meet these days.

Busy Oram

State BJP president Jual Oram is a busy man. He has on his muscular shoulders the onerous responsibility of making arrangements for the Orissa leg of L.K. Advani’s Jan Chetna Yatra. The BJP patriarch is expected to cover a distance of 427km in Orissa during sthe course of the yatra between October 22 and 24. Advani will travel quite a long distance in naxal-affected western Orissa and also address a public meeting in Bargarh. No wonder, Oram, who himself hails from western Orissa, is keen to make foolproof arrangements. It is for his his own sake that he cannot afford to take chances.