If there is unity in the Opposition, it is only about regional parties other than the DMK not wanting Rahul Gandhi or any other Congress leader for prime minister, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
With the curtains drawn on the Italian hostage crisis, a somewhat relieved Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday flew to Maoist-infested Koraput where 37-year-old tribal MLA Jhina Hikaka was being held captive by a separate Maoist group since March 24.
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.
A Dalit girl, who was set ablaze after an attempted rape, died after struggling for survival for twelve days at a hospital in Bhubaneswar, triggering public protests and demands for the resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The Odisha government on Wednesday hoped Maoists would soon name their negotiators for talks for release of Biju Janata Dal MLA Jhina Hikaka, a day after it invited them for parleys, even as intervention of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was sought by mediators in the Italian captive's case.
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.
The Odisha government and the Maoist-nominated mediators on Monday resumed negotiation to free the abducted Italian as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik made a fresh appeal to the Naxals to release him.
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.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday rejected Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's charge that the Centre has not offered any help to the state over handling of the Italian hostage crisis, saying he should not make statements without any basis.
After the launch of National Counter Terror Centre was put on hold due to protests by non-Congress ruled states, chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Orissa on Tuesday trained their guns again at the Centre by opposing the proposed amendment to the Railway Protection Force Act.
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.
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.
Odisha Excise Minister A U Singhdeo on Thursday resigned on moral grounds following the hooch tragedy in Cuttack and Khurda districts which left 30 dead and 65 others battling for lives in hospitals.
Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday signed on the nomination paper as a proposer for the candidature of former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma in the coming Presidential election.
'The IB and authorities knew I had given away all my property and had nothing in my name.' 'Even among police officers, they all respected me for this sacrifice which is rare these days.' 'They respected me from this point of view -- in this day and age few individuals live by ideals for the poor.'
Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik on Monday reiterated his party's support to former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma even as former president A P J Abdul Kalam expressed his unwillingness to contest the presidential poll.
Ignoring advice from his party, Nationalist Congress Party leader PA Sangma on Friday said he continues to be in the fray for the presidential election as a tribal candidate
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Bhubaneswar on Monday night on a two-day visit to the Odisha capital during which he is slated to inaugurate the 99th Indian Science Congress.
With Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Pyari Mohan Mohapatra suspended from the ruling Biju Janata Dal, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday said he was not adverse to taking back certain leaders who had quit the party earlier.
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.
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."
Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik on Monday stepped up the campaign for former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma's candidature for presidency describing him as a distinguished tribal leader.
Four days after release of Jhina Hikaka from Maoist captivity, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday questioned why the MLA, belonging to his party the Biju Janata Dal, should resign and said he was looking forward to meeting him.
It's not been a great week for the prime minister. Manmohan Singh has been blamed for the UP debacle. The UPA government's third anniversary is coming up and it has barely any achievements to showcase. And the UPA has discovered why it can no longer depend on the Muslim vote. All this and more in this week's Dilli Gupshup.
Holding Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik responsible for the devastating flood in Orissa, Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said almost half of the state was submerged by the Mahanadi river system due to "mismanagement of water" at Hirakud reservoir, bringing miseries to lakhs of people.
At least 34 people were killed during Cyclone Fani, which barrelled through coastal Odisha on Friday last, causing widespread destruction and leaving hundreds grappling with water shortage and power cut.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday asked his party Member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka to "relax" and questioned why the legislator should quit, as demanded by the Maoists before his releaese on April 26.
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.
Driven out of their homes by a Maoist-back outfit and ignored by the state government, several Dalits from Orissa's Koraput district on Tuesday demanded immediate rehabilitation or permission for self-immolation. Representatives of the group, who launched a sit-in and hunger strike in Bhubneswar, met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The chief minister was told that nearly 400 families of Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon areas have lost everything.
Panda met BJP chief Amit Shah and joined the party at its office in the national capital.
The elaborate rituals, which commenced early in the morning, concluded after the three wooden chariots of Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Lord Balabhadra and sister Goddess Subhadra reached their destination at Gundicha Temple from Sri Mandir well before evening.
Unless the Naxals put a stop to violence, Operation Green Hunt will continue, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram told mediapersons at Kolkata's Writers' Building on Tuesday.
An unhappy Patnaik also said that Ramesh, the Environment Minister, had given no indication of Tuesday's decision not to give clearance to the group's proposed $1.7 billion bauxite mining project in the state when he met him in Delhi on Tuesday.
Patnaik said the prime minister assured him on the Polavaram dam project in Andhra Pradesh, saying that none of the tribal villages in Orissa would be submerged.
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.
Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram said on Friday that the progress of the on-going operation against the Maoists in the Naxal-hit states was "satisfactory"."The joint operation against the Naxalites is few weeks old and the progress has been satisfactory," Chidambaram told media-persons after a high-level meeting convened in Raipur to review the operation.
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