Bijayant 'Jay' Panda symbolises the young Indian politician who appears just as comfortable in Parliament as he is in Kendrapara, the rural Orissa parliamentary constituency from which he has been elected to the Lok Sabha.

Two terms in the Rajya Sabha (including one where he was his Biju Janata Dal party's leader in the Upper House of Parliament) were the training ground for this MIT graduate.

An evangelist for Odisha, he is seen regularly in television studios, defending the BJD government's anti-Maoist record at a time when its Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is seen as soft on the outlawed extremists.

Panda tells Rediff.com's Savera R Someshwar why he believes Odisha has made significant progress in tackling the Maoist menace.

Read the full interview here.