3 yrs on, Pyari admits his strategy was wrong

Bhubaneswar: Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra today admitted that his strategy to topple the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government in the State exactly three years ago was a mistake.

“It was a mistake from my side when I engineered a coup attempt on May 29, 2012, to express my anger towards him (Patnaik) by inviting 33 legislators to my home,” said the former BJD leader.

“Had I known that he (Patnaik) is such a person, I would rather have preferred to be the chief minister of Odisha in 2009 by claiming the support of 85 legislators who were then my followers,” he claimed, adding that it was another mistake he had committed.

Claiming that he currently enjoys the same rapport with almost all the lawmakers who had supported him in 2012 to hatch the coup, Mohapatra said they still express their disenchantment with the ruling party.

“I don’t want to name them (the MLAs), but they are in touch with me,” he said.

When asked about the failure of Odisha Jan Morcha’s (OJM) in rising as a formidable political force in Odisha, he blamed the Naveen government terming it as a ‘barrier’.

“Wherever we went on party work, we were asked to pay money. People even demanded to know that if the BJD can pay us to vote in favour of it, why can’t you,” he said, claiming that due to shortage of funds, his party could not grow.