Bijoy Mohapatra
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Bijoy Mohapatra (born 7 November 1950) is a
politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
from
Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...
. A leader of the
Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...
, he was Irrigation Minister of Odisha from 1990 to 1995 in the
Biju Patnaik Bijayananda Patnaik (5 March 1916 – 17 April 1997) was an Indian politician, aviator and businessman. As politician, he served twice as the Chief Minister of the State of Odisha. Early life His parents lived in Bellaguntha, Ganjam dist ...
cabinet. He was the most powerful minister (known as Super Chief Minister) in
Biju Patnaik Bijayananda Patnaik (5 March 1916 – 17 April 1997) was an Indian politician, aviator and businessman. As politician, he served twice as the Chief Minister of the State of Odisha. Early life His parents lived in Bellaguntha, Ganjam dist ...
's cabinet. He was four times MLA from Patkura Constituency of
Kendrapara district Kendrapara District is an administrative district of Odisha state in eastern India. The town of Kendrapara is the district headquarters. Kendrapara District is situated in the eastern portion of the state, and is bounded on the north by Bhadrak ...
. He won four straight elections in 1980, 1985, 1990 and 1995. After the completion of his early education at Korua High School, in 1965, Mohapatra received his
B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
degree from Kendrapara
College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
, Utkal University in 1969. He later received his
LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
.


Political career

Mohapatra played an instrumental role in the formation of
Biju Janata Dal The Biju Janata Dal (; BJD) is a regional political party in the Indian state of Odisha founded and led by Naveen Patnaik, the current Chief Minister of Odisha and the son of former Chief Minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik, after whom the party ...
in 1997 after the demise of Biju Pattanaik. He was one of the founding members of Biju Janata Dal and one of the most powerful leaders in the party. He was the Chairman of the Political Affairs Committee of the party. He was the leader of a group of leaders in the
party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featur ...
, and was opposed to many decisions of party President
Naveen Patnaik Naveen Patnaik (born 16 October 1946) is an Indian politician serving as the current and 14th Chief Minister of Odisha. He is also the president of the Biju Janata Dal, a writer and has authored three books. He is the longest-serving chief min ...
. In 2000, after filing nomination paper for the Odisha Assembly elections of 2000, Mohapatra was busy in parliamentary board meeting of
Biju Janata Dal The Biju Janata Dal (; BJD) is a regional political party in the Indian state of Odisha founded and led by Naveen Patnaik, the current Chief Minister of Odisha and the son of former Chief Minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik, after whom the party ...
as the chairman of parliamentary affairs committee. In the meantime,
Naveen Patnaik Naveen Patnaik (born 16 October 1946) is an Indian politician serving as the current and 14th Chief Minister of Odisha. He is also the president of the Biju Janata Dal, a writer and has authored three books. He is the longest-serving chief min ...
as the President of the party, cancelled Mohapatra's ticket and gave it to Atanu sabyasachi Nayak, a journalist who is a son of Ex MLA . Due to lack of time Bijoy couldn't reach to file a new nomination. Bijoy proceeded to support Trilocahan Behera, a candidate of the
Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (English: All India Grassroots Congress; AITC), colloquially the Trinamool Congress ( TMC) is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in West Bengal. The party is led by Mamata Banerjee, the cur ...
, who won the seat by more than 40,000 votes over Atanu Sabyasachi, the official BJD nominee. The understanding was that Behera would vacate the seat for Bijoy.It is speculated that leaders like Pyarimohan Mohapatra had a role behind the ouster of Bijoy. However, supporters of Mohapatra in the BJD could not get a majority in the BJD legislature party in the 2000 elections. As a result, Navin Patnaik was elected as the leader of BJD legislature Party and a BJD-BJP government came to power in Odisha. After his failure to get the post of BJD legislature party, many of Mohapatra's supporters in the BJD kept mum or even supported Naveen Patnaik. In 2001, Bijoy formed
Odisha Gana Parishad The Odisha Gana Parishad (''Odisha Popular Association''), was an Indian political party in the Indian state of Odisha, a splinter group of Biju Janata Dal. The party was founded on October 29, 2000. The president of OGP was Bijoy Mohapatra. Ma ...
, a regional party. A majority of his supporters in the BJD did not join it, though, as they did not want to lose their power. The OGP formed an alliance with the
Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
in the 2004 assembly elections, and got only four seats to contest. The Party won two of these seats, but Mohapatra narrowly lost his bid. Due to financial constraints, Bijoy decided to merge his party with the NCP, and became its head in Odisha. However, before the 2009 elections,
Sharad Pawar Sharad Govindrao Pawar (Marathi pronunciation: əɾəd̪ pəʋaːɾ born 12 December 1940) is an Indian politician. He has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on four occasions. He has held the posts of Minister of Defence and Mini ...
, NCP National President decided to ally with BJD. In protest, Bijoy resigned from NCP in 2009 and joined BJP. Presently, Mohapatra is a national executive member of BJP. However, due to very poor organisational strength of BJP in coastal Odisha, Bijoy lost the Assembly elections in 2009 and 2014, contesting from the Patkura and Mahakalapada Assembly seats respectively. Despite the setbacks, Mohapatra has decided to stay with BJP for the present. He was selected as the Campaign Committee Chairman of BJP for the Kandhamal Lok Sabha by-election in 2014. Bijoy was sidelined in Odisha BJP since 2016, when Basant Panda was elected as BJP state President. He finally quit BJP on 30 November 2018 but returned again to BJP on 27 March 2019.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mohapatra, Bijoy 1950 births Living people Utkal University alumni People from East Singhbhum district Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Odisha Members of the Odisha Legislative Assembly 21st-century Indian politicians Utkal Congress politicians Janata Party politicians Janata Dal politicians Biju Janata Dal politicians Nationalist Congress Party politicians from Odisha