Pyari eyes western Odisha to strengthen forum

Suspended BJD leader and one-time confidant of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Pyarimohan Mohapatra on Sunday revealed that he will focus on western Odisha to strengthen his political forum, Odisha Jana Morcha (OJM).

“In the next three months, we will have two gatherings of the morcha in western Odisha, mainly to enroll as much members as possible for our forum. We want to give special attention on leaders from grass root levels because they are the pillars of a party,” he told media persons at Sambalpur on Sunday.

Even as Mohapatra claims OJM as a front organization of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and is aimed at bringing reforms within the regional party, sources said, he is nurturing the organization as a political party eyeing assembly polls in 2014.

The focus on western Odisha assumes significance as the region has been a bastion of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress, while BJD has lower voting share in the area.

Mahapatra did not specify the dates of the two gathering planned in western Odisha, but said that one of them will be held in Kalahandi while the other will be held in Sambalpur-Sundergarh region .

Meanwhile, the forum has said, it has received conditional police permission for its October 28 rally and public meeting at the lower PMG area of capital city Bhubaneswar.

“We have been informed over phone that the commissionerate police have granted its permission to go ahead with our public meeting plan. But we are yet to receive the written order to see that which are conditions they want us to follow,” said Jagyeswara Babu, convenor of the forum.

The city police have permitted the forum only to hold the rally and not public meeting, sources said.

The leaders of the forum are expecting about 50,000 crowd at the October 28 rally.

The BJD said, such a move will not affect the popularity of BJD nor Naveen Patnailk, who enjoys massive public support in the state.

“Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has a towering personality across the state and those who are trying to malign his name would only hurt themselves,” said BJD leader and health minister Damodar Rout.

The state government meanwhile, continuing its populist measures, has increased daily allowances of government employees and daily wages of labourers.

Pyari Mohan Mohapatra had announced the formation of the forum on September 30, nearly four months after his suspension from the party following his failed coup to unseat Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in May this year.