Pinaki Misra was on Sunday named as Biju Janata Dal (BJD)’s parliamentary party leader in Lok Sabha. A close confidant of Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Misra spoke to Padma Rao Sundarji about his new role and the challenges he faces. Edited excerpts:
A:This is now the most important mission for me. I am very grateful to the chief minister for the trust he has reposed in me. The elections are now behind us. It was a hard-fought, fairly fractious election but now that must be put behind us. My aim is that all 21 Odisha MPs – our 12, the BJP’s eight and the lone Congress MP – should all speak in one voice. After all, the cyclone cut across all party lines in its devastation. We have had four major cyclones over the past six years. We have had floods. We have had one very serious drought... In that sense, no other state merits Special Category status as Odisha does.