Talks on pre-poll alliance were being held between the ruling Biju Janata Dal and the opposition BJP for the past few days.
Samples of 1,143 servitors were tested on Monday night, as per directives of the Supreme Court.
'Lord Jagannath won't forgive us if we allow this year's Rath Yatra to go on'
The festival, however, will be different this time as the number of pilgrims and devotees would be cut down considerably after the recent floods played spoilsport and snapped transport lines connecting West Bengal and Orissa
Besides the national capital, polling for the sixth round of the marathon seven-phase elections will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir.
Over ten lakh devotees witnessed the world famous annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath held in Puri on Sunday with fanfare, religious fervour and enthusiasm amid tight security as the practice of people climbing the chariots was stopped in a major reform initiative.
The hotels and restaurants of all categories in Puri have been packed till the end of the nine-day festival, while several organisations have erected makeshift accommodations to give shelter to the devotees and tourists coming from across the country and abroad.
Both West Bengal and Odisha are slugging it out for getting the GI tag for the delicious sweet
People gathered in educational institutions, offices, city squares and religious places to watch the Indian Space Research Organisation's live telecast of Chandrayaan-3's final descent to the uncharted surface of the lunar south pole.
A month ahead of the annual Rath Yatra, on July 12, the Odisha government on Thursday announced that this year, too, devotees will be barred from participating in the festival, which will only be held in Puri amid strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols.
However, speculation remained rife that the meeting was part of Banerjee's plan to form an opposition front with regional players minus the Congress.
Four-year-old Budhia Singh ran a marathon covering 65 km from Puri to Bhubaneswar in seven hours two minutes
'The BJP is not as mighty a political force in Odisha as it is made out to be.'
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Thursday offered prayers at the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara near Tirupati.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday night cut short his visit to Odhisa and returned to the capital after his wife Suvra was hospitalised following illness.
Modifying its June 18 order in which it had said that this year's Yatra cannot be allowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the apex court permitted holding of the Yatra after taking note of Odisha government's stand that it 'can be held in a limited way without public attendance'.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday effected a major reshuffle in his three-year-old ministry inducting 12 fresh faces into his new team of 21 ministers.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday expressed apprehension that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections would be the last opportunity for the people to save democracy, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi might prefer dictatorship in case his party wins the upcoming polls.
Mitra, who was arrested on October 23 this year and lodged in the high-security Jharpada jail in Bhubaneswar, was admitted to the Capital Hospital here late Saturday night, a hospital official said.
As a 10 year old, it was what she dream of become. At 18, she achieved her dream.
Kumar had also made it clear that he was in the process of uniting the non-BJP leaders.
Large crowds thronged popular boulevards, tourist hubs and entertainment centres across India and many joined special prayers at places of worship on Sunday as people stepped out to celebrate the New Year without COVID-19 restrictions.
On this day, sisters tie a rakhi on her brother's wrist, symbolising the former's love and prayers for the latter's well-being.
At least four people were killed and four critically injured when an over 100-year-old house collapsed in the temple town of Puri on Sunday.
He recalled that democracy-lovers had fought a big battle against the Emergency.
With clean blue waters and golden-white sands, these super beaches have a magic that is hard to keep away from.
The JNU VC said the "status of shudras given to women in Manusmriti" makes it extraordinarily regressive.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last month, in 10 images
All of the top news of the week gone by, in photos.
A day after her remarks during a lecture in which she had said that anthropologically Gods do not belong to the upper caste, Jawaharlal Nehru University Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit said it is to the credit of Hinduism that great dissenters from Gautam Buddha to Dr B R Ambedkar are celebrated.
Merely bringing down the government stake below 51% may not find any taker for the PSBs. The government must bring down its holding to at least 26%, recommends Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Where did the rasgulla originate from? Is the dish originally from Odisha or West Bengal?
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday termed the cancellation of over 25,000 school jobs as 'gross injustice' and alleged that it was a ploy by the Bharatiya Janata Party to stop these job losers from being deployed in poll duty.
'Why exclude those who are curious about our faith but not born into it, to experience the temple?'
Photos that will make you forget everything you thought you knew about the state.
The stampede on the banks of Godavari River in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh added to India's notoriety for deaths due to such accidents, when sudden, uncontrollable crowds surge out of control.
Rejecting Congress' charge that projects he has been inaugurating in recent months were all started during their time, he said, as prime minister, he would have been happy if the projects were completed 15 years back and led to creation of jobs.
The stampede at Gandhi maidan in Patna added to India's notoriety for deaths due to such accidents, when sudden, uncontrollable crowds surge out of control Stampedes at temples and other religious places in India have claimed more than a thousand lives in the last 10 years in the country. Here is a look at some of the deadliest stampede to have happened in India.
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