For close to two decades, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his one-time close confidant Bijoy Mohapatra, currently a leader of the Opposition BJP, have been arch rivals in the state’s politics. Now, an upcoming Assembly by-poll is set to bring a closure to this phenomenon with a result that may be along the familiar patterns of the saga.
Mohapatra, 68, has a reputation for being a vociferous leader who revels in bringing out the acts of omission and commission of the government of the day ever since he became an MLA in 1980.