Ruling Biju Janata Dal vice-president Soumya Ranjan Patnaik was removed from his post on Tuesday, months before the simultaneous assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Odisha for allegedly writing critical editorials in his Odia daily.
"There is a need for a name change. What did Ravenshaw, after whom the university is named, do during the famine," the minister had asked,
Kumar had also made it clear that he was in the process of uniting the non-BJP leaders.
The Naveen Patnaik-led party bagged 112 of the 146 assembly seats despite the Modi wave in the country.
Patnaik, 89, passed away at Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences in the temple city
Overall, the implications of these elections will favour the BJP in the Upper House where it is short of a numerical majority but has an operational majority.
Indicating strong disciplinary action against certain dissident party leaders in Odisha, Union Minister and senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said politicians should have age for retirement from politics.
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