In an interview to a TV channel recently, Excise Minister Damodar Rout claimed that none but he would continue to be the MlA of Paradip till his last breath.
He explained that Paradip and he are made for each other. “Dhrustarastra ku kanya nahin ki Gandhari ku bara nahni (There is no wife for Dhrutarastra and no husband for Gandhari; so they are made for each other),” Dr Rout remarked in his characteristic style.
Though his remarks did not bat an eyelid for Rout is wont to make similar repartees, what was remarkable to see in them was his desperation at being sidelined in the BJD despite his age and experience and most importantly, his unchallenged leadership in his constituency.
Rout has been uncomfortable in the party for two basic reasons. One, he does not get importance commensurate with his seniority; and two, the CM relies more on the young leaders than him and has been assigning them with far more important works.
Rout most often invokes his proximity with late CM Biju Patnaik and tries to point out how closely he follows Biju legacy till date. By doing so, Rout wants to draw a contrast between Biju and his son Naveen, thereby training his guns at the latter for ignoring a man who was BJD ideologue’s and his father’s eyes and ears.
Rout most often frets at being compared with Cuttack Barabati MlA Debasis Samantaray and Jagatsinghpur BJD president and Rajya Sabha MP Bishnu Das. While discarding them as not leaders of his stature, he suggests comparing him among his equals. “Mote Samascanda manaka saha tulana kara,” advises Rout. He even is not ready to accept Bishnu Das as Jagatsinghpur’s BJD president.
leave alone his opponents in the Jagatsinghpur BJD, as party’s vice president Rout too is not in conformity with senior leaders like Surjya Narayan Patro. His barb against Patro during the BJD Kalas Jatra rally in Bargarh over Mahanadi issue had left his party men red-faced.
In the wake of the Nabakalear mess, while Rout had not hesitated to criticise law Minister Arun Sahu, Rout too had questioned the morality of Food and Civil Supply Minister Sanjaya Dasburma for not resigning when he was targeted by the Opposition for receiving gifts from chit fund firm AT’s chief Pradip Sethi. Notably, Sahu and Dasburma among a few young leaders in the BJD have been close to the CM, at least what Rout has not been able to enjoy so far.
Rout of late has given a controversial statement by describing the associates of the CM as bad and obliquely targeting Patnaik with the remark, if a man’s associates are bad, guess, what the man himself is like.