A leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, he was Irrigation Minister of Odisha from 1990 to 1995 in the Biju Patnaik cabinet.

Sri Bijaya Mahapatra was the popular leader in Kendrapara district from Janata Dal.

Mohapatra played an instrumental role in the formation of Biju Janata Dal in 1997 after the demise of Bijayananda Pattanaik.

In the meantime, Naveen Patnaik as the president of the party, cancelled Mohapatra's ticket and gave it to Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, a journalist who is the son of an Ex MLA.

Bijoy proceeded to support Trilocahan Behera, a candidate of the Trinamool Congress, who won the seat by more than 40,000 votes over Atanu Sabyasachi, the official BJD nominee.

As a result, Nabeen Pattanaik was elected as the leader of BJD legislature Party and a BJP-BJD government came to power in Odisha.

The OGP formed an alliance with the Indian National Congress in the 2004 assembly elections, and got only four seats to contest.

Due to financial constraints, Bijoy decided to merge his party with the NCP, and became its head in Odisha.