Beyond welfare politics, the BJP has assiduously worked to appropriate regional icons.
The results for the Andhra Pradesh and Odisha assembly elections were declared on Tuesday.
Sparking speculation of cracks within the ruling Biju Janata Dal in Odisha, two groups t held separate meetings on Tuesday night at the houses of party member of Parliament Pyari Mohan Mohapatra and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is on a London visit.
Senior BJP leader and Patnagarh MLA KV Singh Deo and debutant from Nimapara assembly segment Pravati Parida took oath as deputy chief ministers.
An overwhelmed Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who led the Biju Janata Dal to power in the state for the fourth time on the trot, on Friday thanked people for their support in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
He claimed even the media is debarred from entering the secretariat and reaching out to the chief minister and thus changes need to be made in the governance model in Odisha.
Patnaik will take oath as the chief minister for fifth time in a row at 10.30 am on Wednesday.
The 67-year-old hasn't only received a clear-cut mandate for an unprecedented fourth term but also done it on his own. From distributing tickets to planning party campaigns to chalking out strategies for the present and the future, the chief minister had played a stellar role throughout, and emerged successful in his endeavour. Bikash Mohapatra reports
Biju Janata Dal supremo and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who was the first to advocate an alternative government minus Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre, on Tuesday said it was still too early for such a move.
'The BJP is not as mighty a political force in Odisha as it is made out to be.'
Villagers on Monday blocked the official convoy of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who was on a visit to coastal areas of cyclone-hit Odisha to oversee relief work.
He said the empowerment of women is very close to his heart.
Scenes from the election campaign in New Delhi, Mainpuri, Bardhaman, Srinagar, Etah, Mumbai and Puri.
'The Odisha government has changed the image of the state by making it a sporting hub of the country with high performance centres, state-of-the-art training facilities and hosting big tournaments. The sports loving people of Sundergarh and Odisha will not forget this while voting.'
Talks on pre-poll alliance were being held between the ruling Biju Janata Dal and the opposition BJP for the past few days.
Terming the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD as 'B' team of Congress, opposition BJP slammed the chief minister who recently said he was not "comfortable" with the idea of Narendra Modi as the prime minister.
"It is high time India traded dynasty for meritocracy. This would require fundamental reforms, from imposing legally mandated term limits to requiring meaningful internal party elections, together with a concerted effort to educate and empower the electorate to choose leaders based on merit," Tharoor said.
Two coaches of the Visakhapatnam-Palasa Passenger train from the rear and the loco of Visakhapatnam-Rayagada Passenger were derailed as a result of the accident, the railway official said, adding that rescue operations are underway.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded special category status for his state as well as other assistance from the Centre but remained evasive on allying with National Democratic Alliance.
Hinting that the ruling Biju Janata Dal might be a part of the proposed Third Front in the 2014 general elections, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday 1dubbed the Congress "corrupt" and the Bharatiya Janata Party "communal".
The Odisha government told the assembly over 40,000 workers migrated from the state last year, with the highest number -- 26,151 -- from Balangir.
Rajiv Gandhi, his son Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia Karan Singh, Naveen Patnaik besides celebrated authors like Amitav Ghosh and Vikram Seth studied at The Doon School.
'...just be neutral about everything.' 'I will just take life as it comes.'
In what analysts are terming as a political masterstroke, the ruling Biju Janata Dal President Naveen Patnaik Friday decided that his party will field candidates from Other Backward Castes (OBC) for 27 per cent of seats in the forthcoming three-tier panchayat elections in Odisha.
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.
Of 3,719 acres of land required for Posco project, the minister said the state government had already acquired 2,000 acres in the illegal possession of the people in Gadakujang and Nuagaon gram panchayats.
The incident happened on Sunday night when the woman, an undergraduate student at a private college, went to the beach along with her boyfriend, who is a classmate, on the occasion of the Raja festival, they said.
With numbers on its side -- the ruling NDA has about half the votes of the electoral college -- and the possible support of fence-sitters like the BJD, the AIADMK and the YSRCP, the NDA candidate will likely sail through the contest.
"Now it is a ground zero situation. The people of Orissa would hit back and give a befitting reply to Patnaik and his party for the betrayal. The BJP occupies the non-Congress space in Orissa," Javedekar added.
Ruling out withdrawal from the Presidential fray, the Nationalist Congress Party leader P A Sangma on Monday said if necessary he would contest as an Independent and "not let down" Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who have backed him.
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.
Despite declining by three percentage points in 2022-23 (FY23) compared to FY19, Odisha's unemployment rate remains higher than the average in India.
Narendra Modi on Tuesday tore into Naveen Patnaik government over lack of development in Odisha and mocked the fledgling Third Front, of which Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal is a member, saying its only job is to "save" Congress.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and Chief Ministers Nitish Kumar and Naveen Patnaik were some of the high-profile names to get vaccinated on Monday, as the second phase of the nationwide Covid drive began. Here's a look at just some of the bigwigs who took the anti-Covid jab.
'Many veteran leaders in the Odisha BJP had met them, but their problems were never sorted out.'
As the Opposition on Wednesday held its first meeting on the presidential election, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice for the top constitutional post with senior party leader Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Naveen Patnaik, sources said.
Odisha's Health Minister Naba Kishore Das, a confidant of the chief minister, was shot and grievously injured when he got out of his car on Sunday, allegedly by a police officer who was captured, officials said.
Three of the fence-sitters rule fairly large states Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha that together send 63 members to Lok Sabha -- where the Congress or other opposition parties have been pushed to the margins.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget on Tuesday as the Monsoon Session of Parliament gets underway next week with the united opposition set to corner the National Democratic Alliance government on issues ranging from the NEET paper leak case and railway safety.
KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida were made deputy chief ministers of the state, he said.
