Naveen Patnaik and Pyari Mohan Mohapatra

Bhubaneswar, May 29: The myth of Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal being an infallible monolith was blown on this day last year when an attempted coup against the chief minister jolted the party.

The coup, allegedly led by Rajya Sabha member Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, changed the existing equations within BJD while emphatically putting an end to the controversy over a parallel power centre in the party.

Naveen, who threw Pyari out of the party in the wake of the rebellion, has since taken complete charge of BJD. Pyari, who has floated his own political outfit called Odisha Jan Morcha, is now gearing up to take on his former boss in the 2014 elections.

BJD sources said that the first lesson Naveen learnt from was not to trust anyone. This has also heightened his sense of insecurity with the fear of closet dissidents coming out into open still playing on his mind. He is also aware that Pyari’s outfit has been making attempts to lure his party members.

So, desperate to keep his flock together, Naveen has been holding meetings with different levels of BJD leaders trying to read their mind and infuse confidence among them about his leadership.

“Naveen’s body language has changed. Never before had he interacted with the party leaders in this manner,” said a party leader.

The issue of parallel power centre has also been settled, as the ruling party is concerned. Panchayati raj minister Kalptaru Das said: “Now, there is no dual power centre in the party. The BJD is united under one leader who is the chief minister.”

Pyari told The Telegraph that three of the four allegations brought against him by Naveen have been proved wrong. “They said there was a Rs 200-crore deal at a hotel in Rourkela to dislodge Naveen. But a vigilance inquiry into it is yet to be made public, as no evidence has been found. The allegations of rooms having been booked on May 29 last year in a Bhubaneswar hotel and me having sought an appointment with the governor have also been proved wrong,” he said.

The other allegation was that Pyari had got a letter of support from Sonia Gandhi, which he would have used to dislodge Naveen. This, however, is yet to be established.

As both sides trade charges, they are also gearing up for the electoral battle next year. That will be their real test.