A strange situation has developed in Orissa. The 20-odd ministers are helpless as no bureaucrat is ready to accept their views and act on them. The ministers are no more the effective bosses of their respective departments. It is virtually the departmental secretaries who call the shots and the ministers are only mere onlookers to all these developments. Even a few ministers have stopped attending the Secretariat in the State Capital. The Secretariat which was earlier abuzz with political activity, now looks deserted. One can find only top executives of private companies roaming in the corridors of the Secretariat to get appointments with the secretaries who happen to be senior IAS officers.Ironically, every thing is now dictated and monitored by the "3rd floor"- from the Chief Minister's office. Starting from mere postings to the appointment of private secretaries to the ministers and affairs of the police administrations are being controlled and regulated by the (Chief Ministers Office) CMO in Orissa. Policy matters are first decided at the Secretary level and then communicated to the Ministers.
Worried over these trends, Pyari Mohan Mohapatra who is loosely called the de-facto chief minister, has publicly expressed his resentment. He has alleged that the bureaucracy is not co-operating with ruling party representatives in the Government to implement its various welfare schemes. He told Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik that the primacy of the party should be maintained. Urging Patnaik to have a full grip on the administration, Mohapatra stated that the administration had to be directed, guided and controlled by the Chief Minister. Mohapatra pointed the finger at 1976 batch IAS officer Bijay Patnaik, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister who has assumed more power and even slowly emerged as a threat to Mohapatra's position. The bureaucrats have started believing that it is Bijay who is deciding everything at the secretariat. Reliable sources disclosed to Bureaucracy Today that Naveen Patnaik's dependency on Bijay has become a cause of concern for the No.2 in the BJD, Pyari Mohan, and his followers.
Mohapatra, a 1963 batch IAS officer is known as "Uncle" in BJD circles. Mohapatra served as Principal Secretary to Orissa's legendary leader and Naveen Patnaik's father late Biju Patnaik, when the latter was the Chief Minister of the state from 1990 to 1995. During that period Mohapatra was the most powerful man. When the Congress came back to power in 1995, Mohapatra was thrown into the dustbin. Naveen formed the BJD in 1997 after the demise of his father. With public sympathy, he rode to power in 2000. "It was Gyana Patnaik, mother of Naveen who had asked him to put trust in Pyari Mohan because of his unflinching loyalty towards Biju. Since then Pyari has been with Naveen and has proved his mettle," said a close associate of Naveen Patnaik. On the advice of Pyari Mohan, Naveen rode to power thrice in a row -in 2000, 2004 and 2009. In the 2009 elections Naveen got an absolute majority when his party alone bagged 103 out of the 147 Assembly seats. "It was because of Pyari's strategy that helped the BJD to reach the pinnacle of glory. During the 12-year period, a number of unpleasant decisions were taken starting from the sacking of many of State leaders from the BJD to the breaking of the coalition with the BJP just before the general election," said Prasanna Kumar Mohanty, president of the Odisha Union of Journalists. A number of staunch followers of Pyari Mohan were appointed as ministers. Pyari started thinking that since he was the instrument for the spectacular rise of the party, his voice would have more weightage in the functioning of the Government. Naveen realised and woke to the situation just in time, before it was too late. It was Bijay Patnaik who played a checkmate to Pyari's growth. Bijay, who is also currently in the second term as Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister acquired all the administrative acumen over the last five years. Now, Bijay stood like a rock between the wishes of Pyari Mohan and his administrative decisions. To Mohapatra's surprise, Bijay has found support from a section of the BJD which does not like the functioning of Pyari Mohan. Senior BJD leader and Planning and Co-ordination Minister AU Singh Deo has come out openly and stated that Odisha bureaucrats are doing what they have been told to do. Not only Singh Deo, other senior ministers like Agriculture Minister Damodar Rout who was annoyed with Pyari Mohan for stripping him off the post of BJD Secretary-General have also started backing Bijay.
The Bijay factor has also percolated to the district level administration. District Collectors now do not listen to their ministers. While a few seasoned ministers like Finance Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai, Revenue Minister Surjya Narayan Patro and Minister AU Singh Deo have been able to make a balance of bureaucrats and their political activists to some extent, the new ministers have become completely helpless." We already know that we cannot take decisions on our own until my Secretary gets clearance from the 3rd floor," (reference to the CMO), lamented a minister on condition of anonymity.
"We the 'Vashists' are the advisers to Gods and Kings and we cannot be Kings ourselves", opines Pyari Mohan Mohapatra in a conversation with Bureaucracy Today.
The Kings like gods do have their Aichelles heel and the vulnerability comes to the fore if they fail to act in tandem with their advisers. Probably this holds true in the present political scenario in Orissa. And the Kings would be better off if they heed the counsel tendered by their confidant.
