Baijayant 'Jay' Panda, who has been keeping the cards close to his chest on his future plans after quitting the BJD last year, says he is willing to join hands with anybody "committed to tackling the severe problems that Odisha now faces".
He says some commentators, who attributed motives to his resignation from the BJD, are disappointed that he did not immediately join a party and get some position as they had predicted.
"Rather I have spent the last seven months extensively travelling around Odisha meeting people and seeking their opinions. I am not in politics with any particular position in mind, in fact I have spent two decades not holding any government position but rather helping build a movement and political organisation.
"Indeed since elections are nearing, the people of Odisha have a right to know about my plans and I am in the final stages of deciding on them," Panda told PTI.
Asked about which side he would prefer, the BJP or a 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) of opposition parties, he says, "My future course will keep in mind which direction the country needs to move, but also of course and especially the need for tackling the severe problems that Odisha now faces."
"I'm willing to join hands with anybody who is committed to not just speaking about the sharp rise of crime and corruption in Odisha but is willing to act on it."
Having quit the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Parliament as a "matter of principle", Panda says he has been touched at the outpouring of affection and support he received from the people of Odisha.
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Panda has come out with a book 'Lutyens' Maverick: Ground Realities, Hard Choices and Tomorrow's India', which is a collection of his published articles. The book is published by Rupa.
In one of his articles, he says that for the BJP to return to power, it must ensure that its opponents do not gang up against it.
Asked if he thinks the opposition has an upper hand, he says from 2014 onwards, the BJP has come into pole position in Indian politics as by far the largest party, governing the largest number of states.
"Nevertheless, recent state elections have shown that the BJP is not invincible and this has opened up the election to more of a contest that was supposed a year ago. Also keep in mind that the voters may have different attitudes in a general election as compared to state elections. All in all it is still open to either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or his principal opponents to make significant gains between now and the elections," he says.
Panda also feels that though Odisha Chief Minister and BJD boss Naveen Patnaik still enjoys goodwill in the state, it is a matter of fact that his popularity is "much lower than before as evidenced by recent opinion polls by several national media organisations".
What should be of even more concern to him is the far worse public perception of the BJD and its many criminal members and office-bearers, he claims.
"While the party has always been far less popular than Naveen himself, today its public acceptability is at an all-time low, especially because of the sharp rise of criminality among its members. While in earlier years Naveen's own popularity and tireless campaigning used to bail out the party that will be far harder this time," he argues.
However, Panda feels Naveen's major advantage of having successfully played the Congress and the BJP against each other to prevent either from truly taking the fight to the BJD continues till today and may once again be the BJD's lifeline to survival.
"The Congress has reduced itself to third position because of its unwillingness to seriously oppose the BJD for fear that the BJP would grow in the state. Now, after growing strongly into the number two position, there are reports that the BJP is making the same mistake," he says.
According to Panda, who has been a parliamentarian for 18 years, he has seen the continued slide in the quality of debates. "But in contrast to widely held views, my take is that this is more due to fundamental systemic shortcomings than just individual politician's doings."
He says our politics has "become so polarised that many in it are forced to take black and white stands on the issues of the day, even if they privately agree that there may be room for a middle path".
He feels there is a need to bring political debates more to the centre and to appreciate that not everything is binary, that there could be room for compromise, to achieve progress.
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