While Patnaik was finally allowed to jump the queue, his cabinet colleagues and a ruling Biju Janata Dal MP had to finally return disappointed.
He wants to benefit from the 'feel-good' factor that the BJP is banking on to return the National Democratic Alliance to power at the Centre.
The Airports Authority of India on Saturday announced plans to upgrade the Biju Patnaik airport in Bhubaneswar to international standards by investing Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion).
Arcelor-Mittal added one more site on Monday -- Chiplima in Sambalpur district -- to the four it is currently surveying for its proposed 12 million tonne steel facility in Orissa.
Despite declining by three percentage points in 2022-23 (FY23) compared to FY19, Odisha's unemployment rate remains higher than the average in India.
'The possibility of Nitish Babu continuing at least for some time is very much there, but don't rule out the artistic possibility of a leadership change executed very elegantly.'
Nationalist Congress Party leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma, who is being backed by the Biju Janata Dal and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam for the President's post, on Tuesday sought to reach out to political parties, saying he hoped they will respond "to the call of conscience of the tribal people of the nation."
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said that he respected the Orissa government's "judgment" in handling the hostage crisis last week and dismissed reports that he disagreed with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. "It's not important whether we agree or disagree. The matter was handled by the state government and it was a sensitive matter. They have handled it to the best of their ability," he said.
In a bid to suppress dissidence, Biju Janata Dal supremo and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday suspended Jagneswar from the regional outfit on charge of anti-party activities.
The Orissa government on Friday said the fate of any special anti-Maoist operation in the state would be clear only after five more battalions of the central para-military force arrive.
With Christians in riot-hit Kandhamal afraid to perform midnight mass in churches located in remote areas on Christmas eve, Orissa government on Tuesday promised adequate security to ensure a peaceful festival this time, official sources said. "We have made elaborate security arrangements in Kandhamal and elsewhere in the state," Home Secretary Aditya Padhi told reporters after meeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Terming the state government notifications made for the land acquisition for the proposed university as illegal, a division bench comprising Chief Justice V Gopalgowda and Justice B P Das directed the company on Tuesday to return the awarded land to the original owners.
CM Naveen Patnaik met Home Minister Shivraj Patil and submitted a memorandum for financial help.The state has also urged the Centre to immediately release at least 12,000 kilo litre of kerosene to be distributed among the 40 lakh affected people.
The Odisha government on Saturday said it will release five of the six rebels the Maoists have demanded for release of the Italian hostage, while another Naxal group holding MLA Jhina Hikaka extended the deadline to April 10 and demanded that five more persons be freed.
Fresh talks were held on Friday between the Odisha government and the Maoist mediators, a day after the government named the 27 jailed people to be freed in return for the release of Biju Janata Dal member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka and Italian Paolo Bosusco taken hostage by two separate Naxal groups.
Bowing to Maoists' demands, for securing the release of a Biju Janata Dal MLA and an Italian from the captivity of ultra-Left activists' captivity, Odisha government on Wednesday said it would facilitate the release of 27 persons, including 8 Naxals, from jails.
Odisha government, grappling with the hostage crisis, on Tuesday said some demands made by Maoists like halt to combing operations, have been conceded as prospects of the release of the lone Italian national seemed to have brightened.
The Odisha government is examining the demands made by abductors of ruling Biju Janata Dal MLA Jhina Hikakaka, which includes release of jailed ultras, amid indication that talks with Maoist mediators for release of the second Italian will soon yield positive results.
Though two days have passed since the Maoists abducted ruling Biju Janata Dal member of Legislative Jhina Hikaka, the Odisha government is yet to receive any information on the whereabouts of the young tribal legislator.
According to the latest assessment, 800 houses were damaged in the violence since December 24 with 580 families, including 336 below the poverty line, affected.
As many as 11 newspersons have died of the infection in Odisha since the beginning of the pandemic, sources said.
The results for the Andhra Pradesh and Odisha assembly elections were declared on Tuesday.
Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, International Hockey Federation president Tayyab Ikram and Hockey India chairman Dilip Tirkey were present at the glittering ceremony to welcome members of all the 16 participating teams.
Orissa's mega steel project Posco has slipped into a situation of Shakespeare's 'To be, or not to be' with the Union environment minister putting a halt to forest clearance.
The South Korean steel major Posco, facing stiff opposition from the local people for acquisition of land for its 12-million-tonne steel project in Orissa, may have to directly negotiate with the project affected villagers.
The plan includes raising the capacity of its aluminium smelter to 2 million tonne, Lanjigarh alumina refinery capacity to 5 million tonne per annum and generation of 4,000 MW power in the state. About 700 small and medium enterprises can come up in the proposed aluminium park. Vedanta will not only supply the metal required for these units, but also supply them power from its 4,000 MW power plant in the locality.
A day after the Orissa government halted anti-Maoist operations to facilitate the early release of abducted Malkangiri Collector R V Krishna and an engineer, the rebels snapped the main road link with the district by felling trees on vast stretches. The main road connecting Maoist-hit Malkangiri district with other parts of Orissa was blocked by felling a large number of trees in mountainous and forested Gobindpalli Ghati area.
'Many veteran leaders in the Odisha BJP had met them, but their problems were never sorted out.'
First to back P A Sangma, a tribal and minority leader for the Presidential contest, the ruling Biju Janata Dal in Odisha on Thursday hoped for a miracle in his favour as polling for the top post ended at the state assembly.
With Naxalite activities continuing to spread in Orissa, the state has decided to prepare a comprehensive strategy to control violence by Maoist activists and restore law and order in trouble-torn areas.
An Opposition Congress member on Tuesday climbed on the Speaker's podium in the Orissa assembly demanding Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's resignation.
What some of our political leaders were up to on Monday.
The Orissa government on Tuesday said that it would take the help of para-military forces like the Central Reserve Police Force to face the challenge. "We will initiate action through para-military force and the local police to stop children from joining Maoists," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said. The banned CPI-Maoist had targeted poor children and school dropouts to expand their base in the area.
Embroiled in a controversy over his 'slip of the tongue' on Lord Jagannath, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and party's Puri Lok Sabha candidate Sambit Patra apologised and announced he will undertake penance by observing fast for three days from Tuesday after being criticised from different quarters.
A minor orphan girl, who was gang-raped and had tried to immolate herself in Odisha's Rayagada district a fortnight ago, died in Visakhapatanam on Tuesday. "The girl passed away around 3.45 pm in a private hospital at Visakhapatanam where she was under treatment," said Rayagada District Collector S S Padhi.
Hitherto considered as the unchallenged leader of ruling Biju Janata Dal, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was jolted by a whiff of revolt in 2012, as the year also witnessed a spate of abductions in Odisha with Maoists using them as a new weapon to clinch their demands.
Naveen Patnaik was injured when ruling and opposition members clashed over the government's agreement with a private mining company.
Slammed by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes over a tradition banning the entry of Dalits to a Hindu temple in Puri district, the Orissa government on Saturday said it would look into the matter and try to resolve it. "We will look into it and see how the matter can be resolved," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters, a day after NCSC Chairman L Punia visited the temple premises at Ranapada village under Brahmagiri area.
A weak presence in the Rajya Sabha has forced the NDA to try and rope in 'weak links' in the Opposition ranks to pass key legislation in the Upper House.
