Odisha’s former chief minister Naveen Pattnaik BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government has downgraded the security of former chief minister Naveen Patnaik from Z to Y category, an official said on Thursday. Most of the security personnel assigned to Patnaik have been withdrawn after a high-level committee dealing with security issues of important persons recommended the downgrade…
BHUBANESWAR: Less than two months after BJD’s Mamata Mohanta quit Rajya Sabha and the party and joined BJP, the Naveen Patnaik-led party suffered another blow with another RS MP Sujeet Kumar resigning from the Upper House and BJD on Friday. Later, he joined BJP, boosting the party’s prospects of increasing its tally in RS. Sujeet,…
Former IAS officer V K Pandian with Naveen Patnaik (ANI file photo) BHUBANESWAR: After a brief lull, former chief minister Naveen Patnaik once again came in support of his trusted aide, V K Pandian, on Monday. He dismissed a media report against the former bureaucrat as unfounded and false.The report had claimed that Pandian had…
NEW DELHI: Former chief minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik announced on Wednesday that he would assume the role of the leader of the opposition in the state assembly. This decision was reached during a meeting of the Biju Janata Dal‘s (BJD) legislature party, as Patnaik informed reporters. “We just had a meeting of the BJD…
NEW DELHI: Former Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik‘s confidant VK Pandian on Sunday announced his retirement from active politics.Pandian announcement comes days after Biju Janata Dal (BJP) faced massive setback in Odisha assembly and Lok Sabha elections.The development also follows Patnaik’s statement claiming that Pandian was not his “successor” and that the people of the state…
BHUBANESWAR: Caretaker chief minister Naveen Patnaik defended his close aide VK Pandian on Saturday, amid the criticism directed at BJD’s chief election strategist for the party’s recent electoral setback. Naveen expressed his disappointment and deemed the criticism directed towards Pandian regrettable.Amid the internal turmoil in BJD following the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha…
BHUBANESWAR: Caretaker chief minister Naveen Patnaik defended his close aide VK Pandian on Saturday, amid the criticism directed at BJD’s chief election strategist for the party’s recent electoral setback. Naveen expressed his disappointment and deemed the criticism directed towards Pandian regrettable.Amid the internal turmoil in BJD following the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha…
NEW DELHI: In the aftermath of the Odisha assembly polls, outgoing chief minister Naveen Patnaik addressed the speculation surrounding BJD leader VK Pandian‘s role in the party. Patnaik clarified that Pandian, a former IAS officer who served as his private secretary for over two decades before joining the BJD in 2023, is not his “successor.”…
BHUBANESWAR: Amid murmurs about V K Pandian’s role in BJD’s electoral debacle and his absence in public since the June 4 results, the party on Thursday clarified that he was in New Delhi on instructions of outgoing CM Naveen Patnaik.“There are some misleading media reports on his (Pandian’s) Delhi tour,” BJD Rajya Sabha member Sasmit…
BHUBANESWAR: Naveen Patnaik’s uninterrupted 24-year stint as Odisha CM ended Wednesday, 141 days short of eclipsing Sikkim stalwart Pawan Kumar Chamling’s record of chief ministerial longevity, after he handed his resignation to governor Raghubar Das and told his BJD colleagues that there was nothing to be ashamed of in the party’s poll performance.He will continue…
