Bhartruhari Mahtab (born 8 September 1957) is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) political party. He was elected to the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998 from Cuttack constituency in Odisha. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 from the same constituency. As an MP, he has represented various parliamentary committees like, committee on Public Accounts, MoEF, standing committee on Finance etc. He is also the editor of Pajatantra, one of the oldest odia daily in the state.
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Excerpts of his Interview by Brahmipriya Samantray and Sandeep Pattnaik…\r\n
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Q. 1. You have consecutively been elected for the 5th term as MP in Lok Sabha from BJD ticket. How do you describe the vision of BJD as a political party in Odisha?
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A. The vision of the Biju Janta Dal [BJD] is to attain overall development of Odisha, i.e. in terms of strengthening the economic backbone of the common masses of the state. The brazen management style of our leader and chief minister Naveen Patnaik within the party has made the party stronger day-by-day.
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Q. 2. Then why the state is still facing issues like unemployment and lagging in Industrialisation?
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A. It is a fact that, Industrialisation has been in the backburner in the state, though our government has taken enough stride to take it forward as part of free trade economic policy during its 15-year rule. Also, due to sluggish pace in industrialisation, employment has taken a hit. (Declined to comment when asked about the factors responsible)
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Q. 3. It was alleged that, BJD is playing vote-bank politics in the name of populist schemes for the people below-poverty-line [BPL], like the @Rs 1 Rice/ kg and @Rs 5 Aahar scheme. What is your view on that?
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A. It is not true. Our government is always concerned towards the poor and the special schemes launched in the state are of no surprise. Such schemes have already been implemented in Tamilnadu besides some other states. It can’t be termed as vote-bank politics.
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Q. 4. There is a general impression prevailing that, our MPs are short of raising critical issues in different parliamentary committees for the interest of the state. What is your view?
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A. Post 2009, we have been quite pro-active in representing our views on different key bills in various parliamentary committees, especially in case of revision in MMDR Act, Companies Act besides the proposed GST bill, Land acquisition bill etc.
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Q. 5. You are a seasoned politician as well as a renowned journalist. How do you maintain balance between the two?
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A. The sphere of journalism is wide and offers a great scope for public relation, which is vital for a politician in his career. I derive energy by maintaining balance between the two.
