Is this end of a dark era?

By Our Correspondent Bhubaneswar: As admitted by him, he started it in 2000 with the sacking of Bijoy Mohapatra, the key founder member of BJD, and today he met the same fate. When he did it, he justified the action and when he encountered the same, - he dubbed Naveen a “Bhasmasura.” Pyarimohan Mohapatra, once called Chanakya in BJD politics (not in Odisha politics), has all on a sudden become a beimaan (betrayer) and “villain” character mostly detested and looked down upon his once Number One disciple – Naveen Patnaik. Humiliated to the core and reduced to position from where a graceful revival is an uphill task, Mr Mohapatra, as his words in post “coup’ bid press conferences suggest , has till not lost the hope and fervently desires to get back to his earlier position in the party. Though an individual is fully privy to his personal wishes and ambitions, he should try to achieve and obtain them in decent and courteous manner. But, political commentators contend that these qualities always eluded Mr Mohapatra. Besides Bijoy Mohapatra, scores of leaders such as Nalini Kanta Mohanty, Dillip Ray, Kamala Das, Ramkrushna Patnaik, Sarat Kumar Kar were literally pushed to the political wilderness. With their banishment from the BJD, veteran anti-Congress elements were systematically neutralized. As Naveen, who rarely understands the nitty-gritty of politics and has not enough patience to manage party affairs, depended much on Pyarimohan, the latter embarked on mission to create his own aura in the party. After the old elements were cut into size, he nominated a host of youths whose credentials are not so encouraging. These youths, who never deserved to be ward members, became MLAs. It was expected his young brigade would stand in the vanguard and pull his chariot of ambition. Once on high pedestal, most of the young MLAs changed their mind and did not want to sacrifice their newly started career. For the first time, the calculation of Pyarimohan went wrong. Long suppressed, a few old horses are trying to reassure their dominance in the BJD. It would be interesting to see if the “suspicious” Naveen gives them the right space to grow. It also remains to be seen if the chief minister retains the culture set by Pyarimohan or does away with it. www.indusvalleytimes.com