BHUBANESWAR: Delivering a clear message to party legislators that there is no substitute to hard work, Chief Minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday exhorted them to honour the faith people have reposed in the party by sincere and dedicated work.
Meeting the BJD MLAs for the first time over breakfast at Naveen Nivas, the Chief Minister advised them to work for the people without fear and favour and maintain impartiality. “Lead a simple life, be humble and stay away from corruption. This is my ‘guru mantra’ to you. Success will follow you if you observe this sincerely,” the Chief Minister said.
Sharing some tips with the legislators on how to achieve success in politics, the BJD supremo said the secret of success lies in two things. “Keep people in focus and work for them. Always remember to lead a simple life. When you are simple, people are close to you.” He advised the first-timers not to be arrogant and stay away from ostentatious lifestyle. It is often seen that a gap is created between people and their representatives when the latter become arrogant and lead a luxurious lifestyle.
The Chief Minister’s advice came in the wake of the arrest of party MLA from Patnagarh Saroj Kumar Meher for forcing a junior engineer to do sit-ups in public. “You will be elected time and again if you maintain a simple life, work hard and stay away from corruption. The result will be exactly the opposite if you fail to observe these three things,” he cautioned.
Advising the MLAs not to be partisan to any of his constituents as they are the elected representatives of their constituencies, the Chief Minister, who has been elected to the State Assembly five times in a row, said, “After my first election to the Assembly in 2000, I invited all the block development officers in my constituency and told them to ensure that people, cutting across party lines, get benefit of welfare schemes.” The CM said he has been observing this principle with all sincerity. “I expect that you all should follow this principle scrupulously,” the BJD chief said.
“The CM told us the way he has been working for the people since 2000 when he was first elected. He suggested us to fulfil poll promises made to people of our respective constituencies and address their problems without discrimination,” said AN Jena, who is the first-time legislator from Bhubaneswar (central).