Puri: Former commissioner of Mumbai Police Arup Patnaik, who is contesting the Lok Sabha elections on BJD ticket from Puri, Monday said it would be a “great feeling” if he can serve the people of Odisha after staying out of the state since his school days.
The retired IPS officer, who lost to BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi from Bhubaneswar in 2019, is pitted against BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra in Puri this time.
“I have been outside the state since my childhood. I was sent to a boarding school. I did my college outside the state. My job in police service was also outside the state. So naturally, after so many years, if I get a chance to serve the people of Puri and especially get the blessings of Lord Jagannath, it would be a great feeling,” Patnaik told PTI Video.
Patnaik, a decorated police officer, was in a boarding school in Rajasthan. He retired as an IPS officer in 2015 and joined the BJD of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in 2018.
On being nominated for the Puri seat, he said that being the seat of Lord Jagannath, everything in Odisha starts with this seaside pilgrim town.
“I am going back to the soul of the state. Our family belongs to Delang in Pipli, which is part of Puri district. My maternal grandfather is from Puri,” Patnaik said.
Asked what he would tell the people in campaigns, he claimed the BJD government’s development works are self-explanatory.
“Everything is before people,” he said, referring to the Jagannath Temple Corridor project which added amenities for pilgrims in the Puri temple, the state government’s health insurance scheme, student scholarship and others.
“There are thousands of such welfare schemes, which will take a whole day to count. The vision was of the chief minister. The execution so far is almost perfect. My job will be to go and join the movement, and contribute to the initiative through whatever means I can,” he added.
The chief minister has an emotional attachment to Puri, the candidate said.
The former police officer said he likes the discipline in the BJD.
“Everything is so beautifully planned by the chief minister. In a movie, there is an actor, a director, there is a script. There are similarities in the BJD – everyone has been assigned a task, and everybody’s role has been defined. I came from a disciplined background and there is discipline in the party,” he said.
After the 2019 elections, Patnaik was given the responsibility of ‘Odisha MoParivar’ (Odisha my family), which is a social organisation, “above party line, helping anyone and everyone in Odisha”.
On his confidence of winning this time, he said the matter rests with Lord Jagannath.
PTI
