Former Rajya Sabha MP and president of Odisha Janamorcha party Pyari Mohan Mohapatra passed away in Mumbai after a prolonged illness at the age of 77. Mohapatra, who was also called ‘Chankya of Odisha politics’.
Mohapatra was the Principal Secretary to the chief minister when Biju Patnaik occupied the top post.
Mohapatra, a career bureaucrat, guided the Odisha CM in 1997 soon after the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader landed in Odisha, after the death of his father, Biju Patnaik.
He was dubbed ‘super chief minister’ and ‘Chanakya’ of Odisha politics.
He changed the DNA of BJD and made it a politically winning machine.
Naveen sent Mohapatra to Rajya Sabha in 2004.
Mohapatra helped the BJD win 109 of the 147 seats in the assembly.
But post-2009 polls, the bond between the two men showed signs of cracks.
Mohapatra lost out on May 29, 2012 when he allegedly tried to engineer a coup in the BJD. He formed his own party after that.
