The new State BJP president Samir Mohanty is clear in his goal - complete Union Home Minister and former national president Amit Shah’s unfinished agenda of bringing the saffron party to power in Odisha.
Speaking to Bijoy Pradhan about his new responsibilities, Mohanty says that Mission 120 remains intact notwithstanding a change of leadership in State as well at the Centre. Mohanty exudes confidence in meeting expectations of him while maintaining an equilibrium with all sections of the party and keeping workers motivated.
What are your priorities?
The new dispensation has its task cut out. The first and foremost duty is to complete elections to over 13,000 booth committees. Entire focus of the party will be on 37,606 booth level committees in the State which are lifeline of the party. Collective experience of leadership at different levels will be utilised to strengthen and galvanise the party’s grassroot units. My job is that of a facilitator to see that leaders and workers work in tandem to realise the goal.
Despite the best of efforts, BJP’s position in coastal districts is very weak. With the BJD emerging stronger in every election, what will be your strategy to consolidate the party in coastal region?
As I said earlier that strength of the party largely depends on workers functioning at the base-level, which are the booth committees. We have to concentrate more on micro-level management and utilise the workforce in building strong infrastructure for the party at the ground.
Their first job will be to see whether benefits of all welfare programmes of the Centre are reaching the intended beneficiaries. If not, the second step is to enlighten people either through door-to-door contact or public movement.
With no signs of a decline in the popularity of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, how will BJP challenge the growth of the regional party?
There is no denying that popularity of BJD is still intact. This does not mean that the regional party is invincible. Problems of the people are aplenty. The ruling party has not been able to address basic needs like supply of safe drinking water, housing and electricity for all and many more after 20 years in power. Perhaps, we have failed to convey this to the people. We need to work harder to put failures of BJD Government before them and fight for their rights to win over their confidence.
There is a growing perception of BJP and BJD inching closure after the 2019 general election. Congress has stolen the march over the saffron party which is the main opposition in the Assembly. Will such a perception help BJP?
This is a Congress propaganda to mislead the people. In a democracy, each political party has its one agenda but when it comes to national issues, the opposition parties have to decide what is good for the nation. The BJD has shown maturity by extending its support to issues of national importance. The BJD believes in the concept of ‘nation first and party next’. We should not read this as a support to BJP.