Expelled BJD leader Pyarimohan Mohapatra on Tuesday converted his Orissa Jana Morcha (OJM) forum into a political party, without changing its name.
Making the announcement at a press conference at his residence in state capital, the 73-year-old bureaucrat-turned-politician said the decision to convert OJM into a political party was taken at the general body meeting of the forum here March 30.
The new party, Mr Mohapatra said, would field candidates in 110 of the 147 Assembly seats and predicted that the new party would win 80 to 85 seats and form the government.
The OJM is also exploring possibility to forge electoral alliance with the like-minded parties, he added.
“Talks are on with like-minded parties. I cannot disclose detail at this moment,” he said.
He also called upon the BJD legislators to join his new party. “I call upon the BJD MLAs who are feeling suffocated in that party to join OJM within 30 days. After that we will not entertain any BJD defectors,” Mr Mohapatra said.
Political analysts believe that if his loyalists in the BJD are denied party tickets in the next polls, they might switch over their allegiance to him.
Mr Mohapatra, who worked as the chief minister Mr Patnaik’s non-official advisor for over a decade before being expelled from BJD in November last year on the charge of anti-party activities, utilised the occasion to launch a diatribe against the latter. He compared the Naveen government with the British rule in India.
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Modi visit will revive party, feel leaders
SANTANU CHOWDHURY
KOLKATA, APRIL 9
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to the city will rejuvenate the party and galvanise its supporters for the upcoming elections, feel state BJP leaders.
On Tuesday, Modi was received with thunderous applause when he addressed the BJP workers at Mahajati Sadan. The workers were denied permission to host a reception ceremony at Netaji Indoor Station. But that did not deter Mr Modi from showering praises to Bengal and the Mamata Banerjee government for its performance after the Left Front regime.
He virtually set one-year deadline for party workers to strengthen the organisation and increase support base in Bengal. Extending his greetings for the Bengali new year, which falls on April 15, he said, “I want you to increase the party’s strength and its support base so that the BJP can launch a powerful movement from Bengal within next year.”