Given the off-the-cuff remarks of some senior leaders describing other leaders in their parties as ‘rats’ and ‘ghosts’, one wonders if Odisha politics has been rat-infested and ghost-haunted!
Rats are despicable ‘vermin’ as they stand for ‘loot’ and that too, in a secret way so that no one gets any inkling about it. Our leaders being described as rats probably means they also have developed similar tendency of loot and self-service.
No long ago, when there was mounting pressure on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to sack Food and Civil Supply Minister Sanjay Dasburma in the wake of allegation of his illegal receipt of gifts from a chit fund firm and Patnaik was playing his cards close to his chest (he has been still doing the same till date), it was Dhenkanal MP
Tathagata Satpathy who joined the bandwagon of some of the veteran BJD leaders like Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, outgoing Rajya Sabha member Baishnab Parida and Excise Minister Damodar Rout, to name a few, by saying that a few leaders like ‘rats’ have begun to infest the godown (BJD). He, however, exuded confidence that the nefarious rats could cause little harm to the godown, given the popular base of the BJD in the State.
Similar ‘rat’ jibe again began to make headlines after senior Congress leader and former Minister Niranjan Patnaik attempted to paint some of his party colleagues with the same brush. Patnaik family has been quite inconsistent with the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) leadership since the regime of Jayadev Jena. Jayadev and Niranjan were always found to be at poles apart over the whole hog of Jayadev as PCC chief. But Jena’s Dalit base and rapport with the Gandhi family helped him stay put despite intense leg-pulling and schism in the Odisha Congress. Former Congress leader and Niranjan’s brother Soumya Ranjan Patnaik had to form a separate party showing his exasperation against the State Congress leadership and the weakening of its organisation.
Despite Prasad Harichandan having been made the new PCC chief and his efforts to maintain unity, a few old leaders like Niranjan, former Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal etc don’t seem to be content with the style of functioning of Harichandan. little wonder therefore that Niranjan dubbed some of the leaders without taking their names as ‘rats’ - those who have been in politics for self aggrandizement at the cost of the party.
While Congress has been making desperate efforts to set its house in order, the BJD again hugged the limelight for internal dissent with Excise Minister Rout on the one hand and Jagatsinghpur BJD president and Rajya Sabha member-designate Bishnu Das, Cuttack -Barabati MlA Debasis Samatray and Mahanga MlA Pratap Jena on the other spewing venom at each other. Though these BJD leaders are never in peace for quite a long time, Rout accused them recently of trying to disrespect him and lowering his dignity. Rout recollected an incident when the trio forgot the minimum civility and did not let him an inch of space to sit comfortably in a crammed vehicle of Chief Minister Patnaik.
He said that he had been invited by Patnaik to sit in the vehicle but already Samantray, Das and Jena had occupied the seat and did not let him sit comfortably even though he is senior to them and had hands in their thriving in politics. Rout once again revealed his pain of being sidelined in the BJD and his describing the trio as ‘ghosts’ was enough to indicate how disgusted he is with the attitudes of his party colleagues.