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It is really amazing to see that both the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu — the ruling DMK that is part of INDIA Bloc and aligned with the Congress, and the Opposition AIADMK that is aligned with the BJP — are drawing a lot comfort from the historic verdict in Bihar which saw return of Nitish Kumar as CM for a record 10th term. Of particular interest is the way DMK leader and Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, who had even travelled to Bihar in August and joined Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav in a rally against SIR of electoral rolls. Stalin was convinced that Nitish Kumar decisively won the electoral battle for “fulfilling the expectations of the people of Bihar”. On X he tweeted “Election outcomes reflect welfare delivery, social and ideological coalitions, clear political messaging, and dedicated management until the last vote is polled. The leaders of the INDIA bloc are seasoned politicians capable of reading the message and planning strategically to address emerging challenges.” At the same time, he felt the results cannot whitewash the misdeeds and reckless actions of the ECI. On the other hand, AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami in a X post which has a tagline “Say YES to Women Safety”, said how on Nov 14 the people of Bihar had given a fitting response to the Congress-led INDI alliance, rejecting its falsehoods and attempts to undermine the institutions of democracy. In more ways than one, the Bihar verdict had ended uncertainties about the NDA alliance in Tamil Nadu. In fact, a group of AIADMK leaders were already in Patna on Nov 14 cheering for the NDA win. This is in contrast to the way Stalin had been mocking Biharis for flocking to Tamil Nadu for low skilled jobs.
It’s become increasingly clear that India’s batters of the highest quality of recent times come a cropper against quality tweakers from overseas countries — especially on designer tracks that show bias of the surface. There have been one too many instances of the top batters failing repeatedly to spin. It happened against New Zealand at Pune and Mumbai last year and the spinners who exposed the vulnerable nature of the India batters were Mitchel Santner and Ajaz Patel, both left-arm spinners. Prior to that, India’s batters could not put up a commanding display against Australia’s experienced Nathan Lyon and tyro spinners in Tod Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann and England’s Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed. Of the above lot, New Zealand’s Patel has been the most successful at a single venue — the Wankhede Stadium where he has taken 25 wickets in two Tests. While India managed to prevail over Australia 2-1 and beat England 4-1, the Rohit Sharma led team lost 0-3 last year. In the current home international season, India scored an easy win against the West Indies, but struggled against the South African off spinner in the first innings of the first Test at the Eden Gardens. Fresh from their victory against Pakistan at Rawalpindi where Harmer and Maharaj took 17 wickets, the off spinner took four in the first innings at the Eden on a spiteful surface. Utter chaos happened on the pitch that is likely to earn the wrath of the ICC. The uneven bounce was dangerous on occasions and not a single batter could play strokes without fear. The Eden pitch also proved that the home team batters were far from equipped to deal with good spinners.
T Sathishkumar started as a simple Dhoodwala in Erode. Expanded to procuring 8 lakh litres from 70,000 farmers …a business he could sustain for long, as India had reached top spot as the world’s top milk producer, powered by the White Revolution and Verghese Kurien’s panavision dream for Anand and Amul. Today, Milky Mist Dairy (MMD) procures milk from 20 districts of TN and has every derivative product from milk – paneer, cheese, curd, flavoured yogurt, milk shakes, ghee, butter, payasam and shrikhand. MMD’s mozzarella cheese making plant is the biggest in the country, boasting a robotic line of production and crucial in the supply chain of the fast food industry. MMD’s paneer is a marketer’s dream journey…a few years back, paneer was not so popular in South cuisine. Now Milky Mist has won aggressively challenging Amul, Mother Dairy, Nandini, Gowardhan and some regional brands. Before the advent of Milky Mist, AAVIN TN’s flagship dairy brand had kept much of the market in its grip. The way retailers were coaxed to stock Milky Mist paneer is a case study for business schools. The same business spirit of adventurous strategy is now evident in the introduction of Milky Mist SKYR, a protein-led traditional Icelandic recipe that wants to lead the fitness market with a unique protein product …easy to consume straight out of the cup to those in search of muscle and strength. All these are reflected in its impressive financials. It has grown from Rs 1,015 crore in FY22 to Rs 1,437 crore in FY23 to Rs 2,349 crore in FY25. Now, the company is getting ready for an IPO at an expected valuation of Rs 20,000 crore
Ajay Devgn has long been a study in contrasts: a brooding intensity that anchors thrillers and dramas, and a surprisingly limited palette when it comes to frothier entertainments. As De De Pyaar De 2 hits theatres, it’s worth asking whether the actor’s recent script choices are eroding the cachet that once made him a dependable box-office draw. Devgn’s strengths are clear. He remains one of Hindi cinema’s most effective serious actors, capable of delivering taut, controlled performances in films that require grit rather than glamour. That steady gravitas has earned him big payoffs with the right material. But his flirtation with lighter comedy and flamboyant romcom territory has been uneven. Where he convinces as the silent, suffering hero, he often looks out of sync when a role demands snappy comic timing, dancing dexterity or an easy romantic swagger. Past attempts at broader comedy and mixed-genre projects have underlined this mismatch. Recent outings have done little to reassure audiences. Films such as Son of Sardar 2 and previously, Thank God had failed to fully connect with critics or viewers, De De Pyaar De’s first instalment drew mixed reactions, and a string of smaller turns and guest appearances went largely unnoticed. More recent projects like Auro Me Kaha Dum Tha’, Maidaan and Bholaa were widely seen as disappointments, reinforcing a narrative that not every script suits his strengths. For Devgn, the clear path forward is selective boldness — leaning into taut thrillers, moral dramas and textured character work, while being more discerning about lightweight fare that asks him to play against his core strengths. His next choices will determine whether he reaffirms his standing or drifts into forgettable territory.
Kerala’s seaplane project, first conceived in 2013 and aborted twice following protest from environmentalists and coastal fishermen, is finally set to takeoff. The civil aviation ministry has cleared 48 routes for operations in the state under the government of India’s UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) scheme. The project has received seven proposals from private operators. Till date, the State government has approved India One Air, MEHAIR, PHL and SpiceJet to operate, according to Kerala Tourism Minister PA Mohamed Riyas. The development comes about at a time when the authorities have successfully completed the groundwork for the launch of seaplane services from Kochi Airport to Lakshadweep. Spice Shuttle, a subsidiary of Spice Jet plans to operate a 22-seater plane for tourists and as a public transport. A one-way trip is expected to cost Rs 12,000. The authorities also promise to extend a few tickets at subsidised rates — Rs 4,000 under the UDAN scheme. Lakshadweep, which is now being heavily promoted by the government of India as a top tourist destination to take on the likes of Maldives, has only one airport, Agatti. A flight from Kochi takes one and half hours to reach Agatti. Today tourists and local inhabitants have to travel to other islands like Kavaratti and Kadmat by boat or helicopter. In the long run, the seaplanes from Kochi will also fly directly to the neighbouring islands. A model similar to the proposed Kochi-Lakshadweep seaplane, manufactured by Canadian company De Havilland, was used to conduct trial flights from Kochi to Mattupetty in 2024. In addition, the routes being explored include Kochi-Wayanad, Kochi-Idukki. Other destinations for expansion to leverage Kerala’s abundant natural beauty, include Kovalam, Ashtamudi Lake, Kumarakom, Idukki dam, Malampuzha dam, Banasura Sagar Dam and Bekel.
The Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India has blocked the release of yet another Bengali film, fuelling speculation over whether it is merely a procedural dispute or one tangled with political undercurrents involving cast members Rudranil Ghosh and Sourav Das. The latest film caught in the crossfire is The Academy of Fine Arts directed by SRFTI debutant Jayabrata Das. Despite receiving the go ahead from the Central Board of Film Certification, the November 14 release was halted just 48 hours before opening. The move triggered a flood of social-media outrage, with many alleging arbitrary gatekeeping by the Federation. The guild claims the film breached industry rules due to the involvement of Pramod Films during post-production. That association, it argues, makes the project a commercial production, mandating guild-registered technicians and prior clearances. Federation president Swarup Biswas insists their objections target Pramod Films, not students, and has demanded the removal of the banner’s name from posters, trailers, and the censor certificate. He dismissed allegations of financial demands. Jayabrata, in a lengthy post, stated that the student team had worked independently for five years with scant resources and sought limited help from Pramod Films only when funds were depleted. The Federation has also questioned the film’s Mumbai registration, high-end shooting locations, extensive marketing, and a distribution plan involving INOX, PVR and UFO Cube, which typically costs Rs 18–20 lakh. The presence of actors like Rudranil Ghosh, now with the BJP, and Sourav Das, who appeared in The Bengal Files, has added to speculation on whether political optics are influencing the Federation’s stance. Meetings between the parties remain inconclusive, leaving the fate of the Rs 25-lakh partly crowdfunded film in limbo as calls for its release grow louder online.
Presence of mind by a Varanasi journalist resulted in the reunion of a four-year-old girl with her parents. The toddler was kidnapped from Mumbai in May this year. The Mumbai Police had launched two special search efforts called “Operation Shodh” (Operation Trace) to find the missing child. The breakthrough came when a local Hindi-speaking journalist alerted the authorities about a girl, speaking in Marathi, housed at a local children’s shelter. The girl and her family, originally from Solapur, were in Mumbai for her father’s medical treatment when she went missing on 20 May while playing in a crowded area. Mumbai police teams travelled to Uttar Pradesh time and again during their six-month investigation. The child had been left near Varanasi station by an unidentified suspected kidnapper. Local authorities placed her in the care of an orphanage, where staff members started calling her “Kashi.” After receiving the tip, Mumbai police confirmed her identity and later, the parents, too, identified their daughter over a video call before her physical reunion with them, incidentally on Children’s Day. Mumbai’s DCP Zone 1 Dr Pravin Mundhe and Senior Inspector Yogesh Sable led the investigations. The CCTV footage revealed that the kidnapper boarded a train from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus towards Uttar Pradesh. During the November 1 to 15 ‘Operation Shodh’ drive, the police distributed the girl’s photos, stuck posters all over Varanasi and published information in the local newspapers. That was when the breakthrough came. The kidnapper is still at large.
Tiny Temba Bavuma played a giant’s hand in keeping South Africa in the hunt at the bowlers’ paradise that Kolkata’s Eden Gardens turned out to be. His seventh half century in his last 11 innings was another valuable contribution to a team that he led to an unlikely victory in the World Test Championship last summer at Lord’s over defending champions Australia. His gritty presence at the crease even brought out a rare curse from the lips of India’s gigantic performer with the ball, Jasprit Bumrah. A taunt over Bavuma’s dwarfish physique was not in order, but it might have escaped attention of the match authorities as it might have been lost in translation. What it signified was what a gutsy performer the pocket-sized batsman is and how he outlasted everyone to make the highest individual scores in very tough batting conditions. The sporting crowd at the Eden Gardens stood up to a man to celebrate Bavuma’s half century. Without the advantage of height or power, the Cape Town born battler has built his game around patience and solid defensive technique and is nearing the 4000-run mark in Tests. The first black African batsman to be picked to play Tests for South Africa has more than justified his place in the rainbow nation’s team. His stature in South African cricket is a tribute to the spirit of man that shone through regardless of race or colour.
Various stories are doing the rounds about why the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) poor performance in the Bihar assembly elections has brought out fissures within the Lalu Yadav’s family out in the open. Internecine feuds at this juncture clearly reflect that the legatee war over Lalu Yadav’s political legacy have begun even as the RJD patriarch is alive and kicking. It simply shows that all is not well in the RJD first family. Of Lalu’s nine children, at least five including wife Rabri Devi are known to be politically active and ambitious. However, what has not gone down well with those watching the Bihar political scene is the manner in which Lalu’s Singapore-based daughter Rohini Acharya was forced to air her differences with her brother Tejashwi. According to sources, Tejashwi had an argument with Rohini on Nov 15 afternoon. In a summary of review of the defeat, Rohini told Tejashwi that they should respond to the party workers’ protests regarding Haryana-based Sanjay Yadav. The very mention of Sanjay Yadav, a close buddy to both Tejashwi and his wife, sparked an argument between Tejashwi and Rohini. Tejaswi told Rohini, “We lost the election because of you. We are cursed by you.” During the argument, Tejashwi angrily threw a slipper at his elder sister; he also abused her. Rohini, it is learnt, wanted to campaign in every assembly constituency in Saran but she was only allowed to go to Raghopur. In July 2023, a year before the Lok Sabha elections, Tejashwi had asked Rohini to contest from Saran. Post her father’s consent she expressed desire to contest from Pataliputra but Misa was reluctant. Ultimately, it was Saran. It is being said increasingly Sanjay Yadav was uncomfortable with Rohini’s political role and sees her as a threat to Tejashwi; he had even advised Rohini to leave politics.
The BJP government in Odisha led by Mohan Charan Majhi won the prestigious Nuapada bypoll. Its candidate Jay Dholakia won by over a margin of 83,748 votes polling 123,869 votes while Congress candidate Ghasiram Majhi polled 40,121 votes and BJD’s Snehangini Chhuria 38,408 votes. BJD was relegated to the third position in spite of the fact Naveen Patnaik was personally campaigning. Shockingly, BJD’s vote share crashed to 18.8 % from 40.22% in 2024 when it won the assembly seat. Patnaik’s party BJD which dominated Odisha politics for over 24 years seems to be losing its hold. Political commentators say “Brand BJD has been eroded”. This clearly indicates that the BJP in Odisha is controlling the political narrative. One of the reasons for BJD’s downhill run is attributed to Naveen babu’s frail health, no succession planning thereby leading to infighting. This scenario led to some of the veteran BJD leaders crossing over to BJP. Political watchers say, BJD’s future cannot rest on Patnaik’s shoulder alone. This means BJD must resolve its leadership issues, inner-party contradictions and address the vacuum in its current leadership style.
The National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) spot inquiry team looking into the suicide of a Nepali girl student at the KIIT University campus in Odisha on February 16, has held KIIT responsible for it. It has labelled it as sexual harassment case. As per NHRC “KIIT officials disposed of the girl’s sexual complaint in a very casual manner.” NHRC has recommended UGC’s National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) to initiate requisite action against KIIT and its sister concern KISS for violating guidelines. Similarly, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Satyabrata Sahu has also been directed to submit his report in next four weeks. Likewise the Commissioner of Police and UGC have also been directed to submit their action taken report. Amidst NHRC’s strong follow up action initiatives, the student’s community are asking “what happened to the high-powered committee report. It is learnt that KIIT founder-promoter Achutya Samanta is on a damage control mode and is pulling all stops out to water down the negative impact. For instance, his channel Kalinga TV recently held a conclave titled Pragati Pathe Odisha in Bhubaneswar where the who’s who of Odisha cutting across the party lines — BJP, BJD, Congress –not only participated in the event but praised Samanta for this initiative. Clearly, Samanta’s diffusing strategy seems to be working …a few months down the line the incident will be forgotten. Meanwhile, there are reports of another suicide case of a KIIT student. His body was found in the basement of a half constructed building away from KIIT university at Mancheswar, Bhubaneswar a few days ago.
Odisha’s Opposition leader Naveen Patnaik, former chief minister and head of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) seems to have got a jolt from his man Friday ex-IAS officer VK Pandian. The big news is Pandian has left Naveen Nivas vis a vis politics for good thereby putting his master in a spot. So, what made the influential Pandian leave Navin Nivas? Sources say, even though Pandian holds Naveen babu in a very high esteem but he sees no future for BJD nor for himself within the party. The power corridor in Odisha is buzzing with the news that Pandian is in talks with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a senior level position to handle some part of their India ops. If he does join, it makes eminent sense, because as a seasoned IAS officer he has considerable clout both in Delhi and Odisha. Also, Bill Gates Foundation is known to hire top notch ex-IAS talents. It may be recalled that sometimes back Bill Gates while meeting both Naveen Patnaik and VK Pandian had praised Odisha’s health initiatives, sanitation intervention, effective management of Mission Shakti and Pandian’s administrative capacity to solve issues and getting proposals cleared by respective ministries. The latest news is Pandian’s wife Sujata Karthikeyan, an IAS officer who was working as special secretary – Finance Dept in Odisha has opted for VRS. The Centre has not only accepted her resignation but also waived her notice period. Is she entering politics?
Why Ollywood’s two big stars, former Kendrapara BJD MP Anubhav Mohanty now in the BJP camp and ex-wife Varsha Priyadarshini grabbing headlines in Odisha? Anubhav Mohanty had married Varsha in 2014 but it did not work and some six years later, Varsha filed a domestic violence case against Anubhav in 2020. In response, Anubhav filed divorce petition in July 2020 and was granted the same by the Cuttack High Court. Why did Anubhav’s marriage with Varsha fail? Anubhav says it was because of non-consummation of marriage and this fact was brought to light by the Odisha High Court’s findings. However, Varsha’s fans don’t believe it to be true. With court granting him divorce, Anubhav has moved on by marrying his biographer Jagruti Shukla. It seems the public sympathy is with Anubhav’s ex-wife Varsha; she is a role model in Odia cinema. Looks like the trouble for Anubhav is not over as Varsha has now released a movie titled Wife that brings to the public what really happened in their marriage. For a star-politician this could dent his image among his fans and vote banks.
As of now there is no respite for the KIIT founder Dr Achutya Samanta and company with regard to Nepalese student eviction and suicide of a Nepalese girl student. The unsavoury incident proved a big embarrassment for India. The Nepalese government openly expressed its disappointment with the Indian government. To salvage the situation, the Odisha government appointed 3-Member Inquiry Committee headed Additional Chief Secretary Satyabrata Sahu to ascertain circumstances which led to Nepali female student committing suicide, high handed action by the institute to drive away Nepali students and reasons for closing KIIT door to Nepali students. Already Dr Samanta along with top seven officials has appeared before the committee. Meanwhile, even UGC has sought an ‘action taken’ report from KIIT. An NHRC team has also begun an inquiry. The KIIT issue has taken a political dimension. BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik did not comment on the KIIT controversy. However, another party member Sarada Jena raised the issue with Patnaik saying “future governance and accountability remain critical concerns”. Odisha Congress leader Ajay Kumar Lallu said his party will gherao the legislative assembly and even Parliament if the accused are not punished. Meanwhile, the Odisha Police registered a case against Dr Samanta and KIIT over land encroachment.
From the word go the Puri Jagannath International airport seems to be an on-off project. For starters there were no bidders followed by land and environmental clearance issues and finally the big question raised was about its viability as it was close to Bhubaneswar airport. Now, highly placed sources say that the Odisha government is keen to get the airport operational on a priority basis. Towards this, the government has ensured that the project will not face any hurdles from the environment ministry. The state’s chief secretary Manoj Ahuja while addressing the third High Powered Committee has made it clear that Puri International Airport is a priority for the Odisha government as well as the Centre. The new airport can help bolster regional and international connectivity thereby giving fillip to tourism vis a vis economic growth. As regards project viability efforts are being made by ensuring viability gap funding. This greenfield airport project will be spread over 1,164 acres. Immediately the Odisha government is going ahead to acquire 221 acres of land which falls under Brahmagiri Tehsil. The villagers will be fairly compensated for land acquired. But there are doubting Thomases who feel that this public-private partnership project will not see the light of the day. Their argument is that the greenfield airport may not prove to be viable as the close-by Bhubaneswar airport already attracts 4.9 million passengers and it is expanding to make provision for 16 million passengers in the next five years. But it has the constraints of not being able to increase its runway.
The recent arrest of Soumya Sankar Chakra, an influential Biju Janata Dal Youth Wing leader, for his alleged involvement in a multi-crore Gandhamardan mine corruption case, particularly mineral transportation fraud racket in Keonjhar district, has won applause for the Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi. It is learnt that BJD’s senior leader and former minister Badri Narayan Patra had alerted Naveen Patnaik’s office about Chakra’s involvement in the alleged scam in a confidential report just before 2024 elections. Strangely, the top leadership looked the other way. Patra alleged that Chakra ran an illegal operation in cahoot with a former Keonjhar district collector and senior police officers prior to the 2024 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Amidst recent disruption in the Odisha assembly that saw Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahini suspended for seven days and now the arrest of BJD leader Chakra. The question everybody is asking is: “Why LoP Naveen Patnaik is missing from Odisha suddenly”. Rumour is, Naveen babu soon after meeting the DMK delegation led by DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran and TRB Rajaa suddenly left for Delhi. Sources say Patnaik was meeting unofficially top rung BJP leaders to douse the fire regarding the ongoing corruption investigation against BJD Youth leader Chakra. Sources say Naveen’s fear is if Chakra spills the beans then BJD could be in deep trouble. Everybody knows Naveen babu is very close to PM Modi, yet it is learnt that Patnaik’s Man Friday VK Pandian is possibly in Delhi helping him meet the right kind of people.
The Union Health Minister JP Nadda seems gung-ho to eradicate TB from India by the end of this year, 2025. He made this statement recently at a health summit held in Puri, Odisha. To meet this objective, he said he will include aspirational districts and blocks under the TB campaign. What makes Health Minister Nadda confident to eliminate TB from India in 2025 — five years ahead of the global target 2030. This is because India has not diluted its TB eradication target so far. This is evident because India’s TB spread which tops 30 countries with high TB cases has now shown an impressive decline of 17.7% covering 2015-2023 compared to global average decline of 8.3%. Also during the same period the TB mortality has also decreased substantially. As per WHO Global Report, TB incidence in India has been reduced from 237 per 100,000 population in 2015 to 195 in 2023. Now this figure has shown a quantum jump in 2024, sources say. A head honcho from the Pharma industry says “It is wishful thinking at the moment”. Implying there are multiple challenges ahead wherein 64% symptomatic cases avoid seeking medical help or give up taking medicines. Giving way to drug resistant TB cases. Industry sources say Nadda will succeed only if he ropes in industry bodies, incentivises the pharma players, conducts educational campaigns and conducts house-to-house surveys to identify TB cases. Pharma players government should rope in companies like Lupin which has done commendable work both in production of anti-drugs and educational campaigns for decades now.
Looks like the BJP government in Odisha headed by Mohan Charan Majhi is hell bent on downplaying the legendary leader Biju Patnaik’s contributions to the state. It may be recalled that the BJP leaders were once rooting for a Bharat Ratna for Biju Patnaik as they enjoyed a good rapport with his son Naveen Patnaik, three-time chief minister of Odisha. But ever since the BJP government routed Naveen Patnaik in 2024 Assembly polls, they have changed their tune. The latest move by the Odisha government is not declaring a public holiday for Biju Jayanti on March 5. Instead, the Majhi government declared Panchayati Raj Divas celebration on April 24 as a national celebration. It may be recalled when BJD was ruling they had merged both Biju Jayanti and Panchayat Raj Divas celebration as one event declaring it as a public holiday since 1993. When BJP was in alliance with BJD they did not complain. Why, Majhi government choose to separate the two celebrations from this year? According to corridor whispers, CM Majhi wants to gradually phase out late Biju Patnaik from the public memory. Undoubtedly, he was one of the architects of modern Odisha and his son named the party – Biju Janata Dal — after him. A political source says that if the BJP wants to continue its reign in Odisha, then they must dilute the legacy and aura of Biju Patnaik. Meanwhile, BJD leader Naveen Patnaik has accused the BJP government of trying to change the name of Biju Patnaik International Airport. He has challenged the BJP by asking: Can you all erase Biju babu’s contributions like Paradip port, HAL, NTPC, OUAT, NIT-Rourkela and others?
It may be a genuine slip of the tongue or deliberate but opponents don’t miss the opportunity to make the most of it. Recall while addressing NRI audiences in the USA in 2014, PM Modi referred to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi as Mohanlal Karamchand Gandhi. Similarly, while talking about Ayushman Bharat health scheme, Modi said it allowed a resident of Jamnagar to avail treatment anywhere in the country — be it ‘Kolkata’ or ‘Karachi’. A few months back, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said “May Narendra Modi become CM again”. Recently, Andhra Pradesh Governor S Abdul Nazeer, while addressing a joint session of both the houses, addressed the chief minister as ‘Narendra’ Chandrababu Naidu instead of ‘Nara’ Chandrababu Naidu. Was it a Freudian slip? Similarly, during the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, BJP leader Dr Sambit Patra while canvassing for votes in the holy city of Puri, told the gathering that “Lord Jagannath is my bhakt”. Two years back a Congress spokesperson misread PM Modi’s full name. Andhra Pradesh Governor’s unintended slip was trolled. And looks like the opposition leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy of YSR Congress party is leaving no stones unturned to capitalise on this golden opportunity to get some publicity for his party and party men. Political analysts say this tit-for-tat is repeating in Andhra Pradesh once again. In June 2019, the then newly appointed deputy CM P Pushpa Srivani belonging to the YSR Congress faction while addressing a Press Conference inadvertently said her government aimed to deliver “corrupt rule” instead of saying “corrupt free rule”.. It’s not endemic to India, it happens world over. Recall how UK PM Keir Starmer accidentally asked for the release of Israeli ‘sausages’ instead of ‘hostages’.
Looks like it’s tough times for Dr Achutya Samanta, founder of the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University and ex-Biju Janata Dal MP. He is now under the scanner of the BJP-led government in Odisha. The reasons range from land grab allegations to the issue of assaulting and forcibly evicting 1,000 Nepali students from KIIT campus and dropping them at Cuttack railway station to ensure they are headed back to Nepal. Sources say, KIIT’s action has resulted in diplomatic embarrassment for the Indian government. This pressure from the government saw Dr Samanta issuing an apology for his action and asking Nepali students to return back to KIIT. Meanwhile, the Odisha government, it is learnt, has set up a three-member inquiry committee, led by additional chief secretary (Home) Satyabrata Sahu to find out what went wrong at KIIT campus. Dr Achutya Samant has already appeared in person and given a detailed explanation about his regrettable action. According to India’s former Education Secretary Dr Arun Rath, Vice Chancellor is the administrative head, he should be held responsible for ensuring discipline in the campus. The Nepal government has insisted that the “unruly” staffers and teachers who allegedly misbehaved with Nepalese students should be sacked from KIIT. For KIIT which is currently run by Dr Samanta, the challenge is to professionalise it at all levels and get the right people to run it.
In Odisha’s BJP circle all talks are about who will take over as the state’s BJP president. One of the selection criteria is that whoever takes the top job position, should not pose any threat to the incumbent chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi. The CM has the full backing of the PM. This is why one of the top contenders for the president’s post Manmohan Samal may lose out but has the credentials for the top job. He played a decisive role in ensuring a big BJP win in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and sources say, if he is made Odisha BJP president there is a possibility that his personality could overshadow that of Majhi. So, Samal’s strong personality goes against him so far. With a view not to upset the apple cart the party high command are also looking at other names such as Sukanta Kumar Panigrahi MP from Kandhamal, Dr Jatin Mohanty- BJP General Secretary, Golak Mohapatra BJP Vice President, Sukeshi Oram. In all this rat race, one thing that has become loud and clear is that the Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan who had trained his eyes in the CM’s chair for a long time will have to forget it. Majhi is here to stay.
Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi is firing on all cylinders as he is in a hurry to cross several milestones. Plans are afoot to set up a new city near Bhubaneswar. In fact, his development basket for Odisha now goes beyond ‘Viksit Gaon-Viksit Odisha’ (Developed Village, Developed Odisha) scheme for which Rs 5,000 crore has been earmarked to be spent over the next five years. Majhi, it is learnt, is putting pressure on District Collectors to deliver quick results; toward meeting this objective he has asked the District Collectors to submit a prospective development plan of villages block-wise to his office by February 18. Besides this, the CM has outlined Greater Bhubaneswar Economic Region (GBER) plan. He is now adding Puri and Paradeep to Cuttack and Bhubaneswar encompassing a sustainable economic zone spanning 8,500 sq km creating a size greater than Bengaluru and Chennai metropolitan areas. This ambitious Greater Bhubaneswar project having one of the largest urban development initiatives in Odisha’s history is aimed to transform the region into a major economic hub as Odisha aims to be a developed state by 2036.
Manoj Ahuja, the upright well experienced IAS Odisha cadre Chief Secretary since June 2024 is making headlines in Odisha. Reason: He has now been entrusted with the additional responsibility as Chief Resident Commissioner in New Delhi as well. Senior journalist Ruben Banerjee, based on his feedback from the state retired bureaucrats, has questioned the logic of this move. Banerjee argues that Odisha already has two persons — one Principal Residential Commissioner and an Additional Resident Commissioner in Delhi for liaisoning work with the Centre, so what’s the need to assign Manoj Ahuja with the additional responsibility of Delhi? Ruben raises a whole lot of questions: Does this mean Manoj Ahuja can do two jobs effectively? Does this mean he doesn’t have enough work in the Odisha Secretariat? Is he super-efficient in delivering two jobs? or is it that the government understands the importance of Ahuja spending time with his family in Delhi on an official visit? But bureaucrats have different views. They say, the Odisha Government is betting big time on Chief Secretary Ahuja for dual responsibility as he will be able to effectively promote cooperation and investments between the state and the Central government without any delay. Before moving into the current position Ahuja was Secretary – Agriculture; Joint Director (Personnel Training/Personnel & General Administration); Commissioner & Secretary (Steel & Mines, Sports & Youth Services); and Chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education.
Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi is always compared to Naveen Patnaik, the former chief minister, a tall leader who ran the state under a tight leash for 24 years and in the process has put his signature everywhere. So, at the recently concluded Utkarsh Odisha — Make in Odisha event attended by India’s industry stalwarts and foreign investors everyone was asking, will the Majhi government surpass Naveen Patnaik’s Make in Odisha record of Rs10.5 lakh crore investment in 2022? Majhi’s government seems to be in a much stronger position. As per CM, his government has received 3 times more investment than his expectations. The numbers now stand at Rs 16.73 lakh crore backed by 595 initial proposals spanning across 20 sectors. This includes chemicals, petrochemicals, textiles, mining, metallurgy, renewable energy, tourism, food processing, IT/ ITeS and others. As on date, Majhi seems to have had a good knock. However, much depends on how fast the Odisha government converts those investment intentions to firm investment plans. Government sources say this positive situation will now set the speed ball rolling in Majhi’s favour creating new investment milestones.
In Odisha, the BJP never seems to lose an opportunity to take a pot-shot or criticise the former chief minister Naveen Patnaik style of governance. Patnaik’s party, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) constantly faces BJP’s onslaught ever since it came to power. The latest accusation relates to a 16-year old case — smuggling of iron ore as a result of which the ship Black Rose sank. Reportedly, the ship was illegally carrying 23,847 MT of iron ore and sank while unloading at Paradip port, it tilted and sank. Since it was an illegal ferrying of iron ore the documents too were fake. That was September 9, 2009. This old issue was raked up after Odisha’s BJP MLA Padmalochan Panda had briefed the Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Now the Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi is expected to initiate a formal inquiry into the whole incident vis a vis expose corruption in the then BJD-run government. Even though BJP is now pushing for an in-depth inquiry but what puts BJP in odd position is that it’s present MP Bhatruhari Mahtab who was earlier ex BJD MP had gone on record stating that Black Rose ship was carrying iron ore from Haldia and was re-loading at Paradeep port when the ship tilted and sank without attributing any kind of illegalities. Though everybody knows nothing concrete is going to emerge from this inquiry, it seems BJP’s strategy is to keep embarrassing and pushing the Opposition BJD party in the hope its image will take a knock.
Not surprisingly, the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas organised in Bhubaneswar, Odisha between January 9 and 11 did not get that kind of national media coverage across the country as it normally does. Going by the local media, the event organised for the first time in Odisha and inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to be badly executed with too many obvious misses. To start with, the name and picture of Mahatma Gandhi was conspicuous by its absence. It may be mentioned that the event was organised from 2003 on January 9 was to commemorate the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa. Organised at the cost of Rs 125 crore the turnout was poor and reportedly there were hundreds of empty chairs. Different people threw different numbers on NRI turnouts; Odisha chief secretary said 3,000 NRI’s attended, while BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi said there were 5,000 delegates, a TV channel said 7,000. Other misses were the State song Bande Utkal Janani not being played at the event and local Odia cuisines not served. Net, net the event reflected poor organising skill of the Majhi government. But, the chief minister on his part was happy as his State has received Rs 2.5 lakh crore investment commitment by the Indian diaspora.
Even though PM Modi has clearly spelt out that Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi will be in the CM’s chair for the next five years, yet rumour mills continue to be buzzing. And the reason for it is the undercurrent within the BJP unit in Odisha. Sources say Majhi has not kept up with BJP’s poll promises of punishing the law breakers and putting them behind bars. Also, he is yet to fill up ministerial vacancies. As a result, minor dissension is brewing with most BJP ministers/elected leaders tilting towards the Union minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan as they owe their political growth to him and not Mohan Charan Majhi. Pradhan was short-listed for CM’s post before Modi picked on Majhi. It is said that Majhi’s political support within rank and file is dwindling with 50% of leaders rooting for Dharmendra Pradhan, 25% are in the neutral zone and only 25% are in Majhi’s camp. Party sources say Pradhan’s heart is in his homeland, and he is keen to be Odisha CM someday. That said, there are no immediate crises as such for Majhi. But, the moot point is how long can Majhi carry on without support of local leaders.
Industrialisation is seeing western Odisha facing serious pollution problems. The air quality index (AQI) in major towns and cities in western Odisha has worsened over the years reaching alarming levels of 300 (0–50: good; 51–100: moderate). Opposition parties have urged the BJP government headed by Mohan Charan Majhi to take strict action against those violating environment laws and put mitigating measures in place. It seems brazen dumping of industrial fly ash over the years, now risen to mountain size, by thermal plants, pollution by refractories, sponge iron units and coal mines have cumulatively contributed to air and water pollution. A few months back Vedanta Group was fined Rs 71.16cr for unauthorised dumping of fly ash. Blatant violation of environmental laws has affected the health of people and it seems the respiratory diseases are on the rise. Farmers have been constantly complaining that industrial pollution is impacting their crop but this seems to have fallen on the deaf ears of the government of the day. Suresh Pujari, heading the revenue and disaster management ministry acknowledged the risks posed by pollution and its impact on Hirakud Dam’s water. It’s a Catch-22 situation for the BJP government, it needs to create large scale employment opportunities so is giving a big push to industrialisation but pollution brings its own set of problems. So how to balance the two is a challenge.
Six months after the BJP came into power in Odisha, chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi has every reason to be happy. It is learnt that PM Modi has appreciated his citizen centric outreach programmes. This is why PM Modi made it known to Odisha BJP leaders, during his last visit that Majhi is doing good work, in the process he subtly sent a message to CM aspirants that Majhi will be in the CM’s chair for the next five years. Now, there are strong talks that to strengthen Majhi’s hands a former bureaucrat with a strong administration background may be drafted into the Odisha ministry. The name of ex-CAG Chief Girish Chandra Murmu and now external auditor of WHO is doing the rounds. He was one of the several names shortlisted before PM Modi cast his vote in favour of Majhi. Sources say Murmu, who hails from Mayurbhanj in Odisha seems to have ticked all the boxes. He is a strong administrator, down to earth personality. Two, a tribal leader, three, not arrogant and fits into Odia Asmita culture. Being industrious and having both Modi’s and Shah’s confidence since he was earlier Modi’s Principal Secretary in Gujarat and was appointed as Lieutenant Governor of J&K when Article 370 was abrogated. Murmu certainly seems to have the heft and gravitas.
In Odisha, war of words is on full display between the ruling BJP and Opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) headed by former chief minister Naveen Patnaik. The trigger is Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s visit to Odisha last week and publicly saying that BJD has lost its relevance… and that BJP will rule Odisha for the next 50 years. Sarma was in Odisha to inaugurate the newly built Badminton High Performance Centre at Kalinga stadium, Bhubaneswar. It seems Sarma’s accidental utterances to enthuse BJP’s rank and file has now backfired. Seasoned political watchers are saying it’s about time Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi delivers and not resort to rhetoric. The general public is asking why the BJP government has not taken any action against VK Pandian’s massive helicopter tour expenditures, chit fund and mining scams till date after shouting from rooftop during Assembly election campaign. Much to BJP’s recent embarrassment, BJD MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain has openly challenged if BJP has the guts to open files to take actions on BJD. Viewed against this backdrop, Assam CM’s statement seems like a bravado.
Discontent seems to be brewing in Odisha BJP’s select pockets. The trigger seems to be aspirations – the CM’s chair. Reading the mood, PM Narendra Modi, in his third visit in November without mincing words gave a clear signal that Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi is here to stay for the next five years. This clearly means there will be no mid-term change. So CM aspirants like Dharmendra Pradhan, Aparijita Sarangi, Baijayant Panda will have to wait for five years. Meanwhile, what is now coming out in the open is infighting within BJP Odisha leaders. The party’s once upon a time strongman Jaynarayan Mishra who had played a big role in toppling Biju Janata Dal lamented publicly that he has been sidelined. This explains why Mishra did not attend BJP’s oath taking ceremony and was absent at the winter session of Odisha Assembly. So seems to be the case of BJP MP Pradip Kumar Panigrahy who was earlier with BJD. He is deliberately keeping a low profile. In all this undercurrent, what is becoming clearer is that Odisha administration, transfers, postings will be managed by bureaucracy and not by BJP politicians.
It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third visit. This time it was a 3-day visit to attend among other things All India Conference of DGP / IGP’s, CRPF, Chiefs of RAW, NSG, SPG at Bhubaneswar to discuss security and law enforcement issues in the country. PM Modi who spent three days at Bhubaneswar had multiple engagements including dinner with state BJP members. According to source, Modi is expected to visit Odisha again on January 8 and January 28, 2025, marking his fourth and fifth visit to inaugurate Pravasuli Bharatiya Divas and attend the Make in Odisha Enclave. In the past no other PM has given the state so much importance. According to Odisha Law Minister Harichandan BJP’s plan is to make Odisha the growth engine of Eastern India. But Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Lok Sabha MP Sasmit Patra is not convinced and his party has decided to go on aggressive mode. He asks why Odisha has not been given special status like Andhra Pradesh. Patra said, BJD will raise four issues. One, AP’s Polavaram dam project which will submerge thousands of acres of land in Odisha Malkangiri district displacing 6,000 tribals. Two, BJD will pursue what progress the BJP government has made to settle the Mahanadi river water dispute with Chhattisgarh. Three, it will demand the opening of AIIMS at Balasore, Sambalpur, Koraput. Four, BJD will also push for withdrawal of GST on kendu leaves and inclusion of Ho, Mundari, Bhumji,Kui and Saora language in the 8th schedule of the constitution. Looks like Naveen Patnaik’s BJD is going full blast to unnerve BJP.
Though Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi was PM Narendra Modi’s selection, now it seems he is under pressure to deliver results on all fronts — governance practices, wooing investments into the state, employment generation and delivery of social welfare schemes. The yardstick to measure him is whether his governance style is better than his predecessor Naveen Patnaik, a tall leader. Effectively, it means Majhi needs the right man for the right job. And this explains why he has embarked on a major reshuffle exercise within the state bureaucrats. To start with he has requested the centre to depute two senior IAS Odia officers Manoj Kumar Sahoo (Amrut Cadre) and Sanjeeb Kumar Mishra (ex-Secretary & Controller of Examinations of NRA) to Odisha to work in the CMO’s office. In October 2024, Majhi had shuffled 55 IPS officers, including SPs of 21 districts. Again on November 23 he effected a major reshuffle in the IAS cadre by transferring 11 officers and giving them new assignments including strengthening his own home ministry. He has now brought in Trilochan Majhi IAS as Additional Secretary Home to support him in key decisions making. He has appointed Sudhansu Mohan Samal, Additional Secretary, Water Resources Department, as Managing Director of Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd. Effectively many senior IAS officers have got new postings. Will this reshuffle help Majhi effectively run his government?
Is the honeymoon over for Odisha’s chief minister Mohon Charan Majhi who recently completed 100 days in the office? Majhi who operates from the famous third floor of Odisha Secretariat building is now being judged for his leadership skills, teamwork and results by his partymen, opposition leaders and bureaucrats. Not without reason. According to former editor of Outlook magazine Ruben Banerjee, Majhi has yet to put in place a well-oiled team in CMO on whom he can rely to monitor and execute projects. He says there is a trust deficit as Majhi has not been able to build relationships across ministries as a result most ministers and bureaucrats in Odisha’s BJP government are working in isolation. Banerjee says neither CM trusts all ministers nor they trust him. This impression is gaining currency as the CM recently asked for assistance to look after some of his portfolio from Health & Family Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs minister Dr Mukesh Mahaling instead of several ministers like Suresh Pujari holding miniscule portfolios. Also, what seems to be going against Majhi is his time-management skill. He is either late for the meeting or keeps people waiting for long hours. Recently when the Singapore High Commissioner came calling, the CM was 45 minutes late for the meeting. Sometimes back at the Odisha government’s Mumbai investor summit, he kept Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of AV Birla Group waiting for over an hour.
The first phase of Rs 2203 crore Odisha’s Puri International Airport, a public-private partnership initiative which was supposed to start five months ago is delayed for a number of reasons. First, it is learnt that the state government is yet to collate 221 acres of private land for the airport project. Second, the three potential bidders Adani Airports, Fairfax and GMR group, who first expressed serious interest in the project did not bid for it on June 4. Reason: It seems the airport’s business viability model is not clear to the investors. Upon checking the ground situation the bidders found that its business model did not guarantee handsome returns. Besides, sources say, for a greenfield international airport at Puri there are no base case traffic numbers to start with, so quantifying investment return for the Puri airport project is an issue. Also, bidders were not comfortable with the Puri competing with next door Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneshwar. Aviation experts say traffic volume success lies in de-bottlenecking Bhubaneswar airport and progressively expanding passenger traffic at Puri airport to make it commercially viable. Contrary to this view, a source from the aviation sector said “A few days back the Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu declined permission to build a new terminal at Bhubaneswar airport thereby indicating that they are keen to develop the Puri project.” Industry watchers say in spite of Lord Jagannath temple attraction there is no immediate commercial viability for two airports — Bhubaneswar-Puri — to co-exist within a distance of 60 km radius unless the Union government makes a provision for viability gap funding.
Looks like the Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi is on a mission mode to attract big investment into his state. Majhi’s target is to secure a total investment of Rs 5 lakh crore in five years. He had already secured Rs 45,000 crore when his government completed 100 days in September 2024. Now, he has managed to convince South Korea steel major Posco to re-enter India via a joint venture with Sajjan Jindal’s JSW. It may be recalled that the Posco project was mired in red tape and was hanging fire that finally led the Korean major to pull out from Odisha. Now with 50:50 JV with JSW the chief minister has promised iron ore mine allotment for its 5 lakh MTPA Integrated steel plant at Keonjhar which also happens to be the hometown of the CM. Apart from this, both Posco and JSW will also be exploring synergies in battery manufacturing for the EV market and also renewable energy options to sustainably power the new steel plant. Analysts now view the JSW-Posco collaboration as a new power play and a win-win strategy bringing in fusion between JSW’s manufacturing expertise and Posco’s advance steel making technology supported by India’s growing market backed by the Odisha government. It is still early days now, sources say at JSW but a detailed stepwise action plan will surely evolve through a work-in-progress schedule.
Not all is quiet in the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) front, post its election defeat to BJP. Many within BJD put the blame on Naveen Patnaik for his blind faith reposed on his personal assistant VK Pandian, IAS officer from Tamil Nadu cadre. The man who was seen in every photo frame of Naveen Patnaik for over a decade now has gone off the grid post the election debacle. BJD insiders say though Pandian seems largely out of sight but he is not out of the picture. He continues to be Naveen babu’s eyes and ears and stealthily visits Naveen Nivas regularly. On his part, the former Odisha chief minister publicly acknowledged that “Pandian had served the state and party with utmost dedication, efficiency and integrity”. Sources say Pandian is like the late RK Dhawan, Indira Gandhi’s personal secretary, who knows too much and that perhaps explains why Patnaik continues to support him. Not surprisingly, his influence continued and led to more disgruntlement, dissensions and desertion within BJD. BJD’s former five time MP Prasanna Kumar Patasani who joined BJP says BJD has become a divided house because Pandian continues to guide BJD as he has Naveen babu’s protection. Patasani alleges that Pandian advised him not to raise the issue of conferring Bharat Ratna to Naveen’s father late Biju Patnaik in the Parliament earlier. Amidst all this finger pointing exercise many from BJD are crossing over to BJP.
Now that BJP has won the Haryana election, all eyes are on Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Speculations are rife that Odisha-born Pradhan may succeed JP Nadda and take over as BJP president. This succession speculation comes at the back of Nadda who is already overburdened with two portfolios one as BJP’s caretaker President and also being Union Minister Health & Family Welfare. Besides, the BJP manifesto also clearly specifies “one man one post policy” which needs to be adhered to. Why Pradhan given that there are other veterans within the party. And for now Amit Shah is shouldering a major burden of the party. Pradhan’s name surfaced for his exemplary performance of ensuring BJP win in Haryana when it was a foregone conclusion –Exit Polls, Ground Reports — that it would be a landslide victory for Congress. But, Pradhan’s social engineering saw BJP snatching the victory from the jaws of defeat. Winning for the third time is indeed considered a rarity these days. Besides, Pradhan’s contribution to UP, Uttarakhand, Nandigram in West Bengal, Karnataka, Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh and the recent Odisha assembly election success are well known. Pradhan has a winning combination; he is considered trustworthy, has a proven track record, known to be a good negotiator and has the backing of Amit Shah. Certainly he seems like a front runner for now. But as always the casting vote lies with PM Modi.
Ever since he lost power in the Odisha assembly elections in 2024, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik, age notwithstanding, has moved in aggressive mode to put BJP on the back foot. The general feeling was that BJD has lost steam and may implode over a period. BJP MLA Sanatan Bijuli openly says that “there will be no need to break BJD, it will disintegrate automatically.” Echoing Bijuli’s statement, Odisha BJP President Manmohan Samal says there are many BJD leaders waiting to join BJP. Our completion of 100 days is only a trailer. The movie is ahead. To boost confidence in his party and cadres, the former chief minister Patnaik has been extensively touring the state to strengthen the party. In the last two months he has already toured 30 districts to work out future road maps district-wise. For Patnaik, attacking BJP is the best form of defence. At the BJD’s annual Jansampark Padyatra which commenced from October 2 onward at Bhubaneswar, Naveen Patnaik taunted BJP not fulfilling its election promises. He listed several of them one by one. He asked BJP why households have not received Rs 300 units free electricity, asked the status of Rs 3,000 allowances towards SSS scheme, where is the Rs 50,000 cash voucher for every woman under the Subhadra Yojana scheme. Naveen summarised these lapses as a wakeup call for people of Odisha. Seasoned politicians say Naveen’s aggressive combat strategy towards BJP is to neutralise the negative effect of his Rajya Sabha MPs joining BJP.
Amidst Jharkhand poll buzz, speculation is now rife that Odisha governor Raghubar Das is now gearing up to contest the Jharkhand Assembly election. This speculation is gaining ground as Assam chief minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma who is election in-charge for Jharkhand, met Odisha Governor at Raj Bhavan along with Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi. Separately even former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu met Governor Das. This meeting of senior BJP leaders with Governor Das is what is giving credence to the rumours that Das is naturally keen to return to active politics. Though the Assam CM said his meeting with Governor Das has nothing to do with the Jharkhand election, it now seems imminent that Das will give up his governorship and return to politics. Governor Das who is considered a power centre in Jharkhand took up the Odisha Governor post as a stop gap arrangement. He represents Jamshedpur East constituency from where he won five consecutive times till 73-year old BJP rebel MLA Saryu Roy defeated him by a margin of 15,000 votes as an independent in 2019. Effectively, it means Odisha will get a new governor.
Happy days are here again for Anil Ambani. Some of his company’s stocks are northbound. For instance, Reliance Power and Reliance Infra stocks are in surging mode. Reason: Reliance Infra’s debt has been reduced by almost 87.6% to Rs 475 crore from earlier Rs 3,831 crore. Its share price shot up by 80.53% giving an impressive returns of nearly 50% in the last 12 months. Ditto, Reliance Power. Its share price is also on the rise after the company fully settled Rs 3,872.04 crore corporate guarantee outstanding debt obligation of Vidarbha Industries Power. With this kind of positive development Reliance Infra share price has jumped by 7% trading at Rs 252.15. Anil Ambani has also made a one-time settlement with Edelweiss ARC — its NCD debts have reduced from Rs 3,800 crore to around Rs 470 crore. It is also learnt that Anil Ambani has also fully repaid LIC, ICICI Bank and Union Bank. Market sources say Reliance Infra is likely to get Rs 1,100 crore equity infusion from its promoter Anil Ambani and Rs 1,910 crore from two Mumbai-based investment firms. There is also a strong rumour that Blackstone executive Mathew Cyriac through Florintree Innovation and equity investor Nilesh Shah may invest Rs 1200 crore via Fortuna Financial & Equity Services for a minority stake. It is understood that the Board has approved Rs 6,000 crore fundraising plan of which Rs 3,014 crore fund will be raised through allotment of share issue to institutionalized buyers.
It was Chandrababu Naidu’s dream to create a world class city — Amaravati — as the capital of Andhra Pradesh. But, he lost the 2019 assembly elections badly and the new government headed by Y Jagan Mohan Reddy put his plan on the backburner. A kind of political vendetta. With Naidu’s TDP sweeping power in Andhra Pradesh 2024 Assembly elections Naidu is going all out with his dream capital plan. The new city, to be built from the ground up, will start from December 1. The Modi government has already sanctioned Rs 15,000 crore for the project, besides Naidu is talking to multilateral agencies like World Bank seeking soft loan for this mammoth project. Sources say Naidu definitely wants a city which is resilient, creates value, drives new markets and responds to future demand. For now the 29,966 farmers who had pooled in 34,400 acres of land for this ambitious project eight years ago are in a celebratory mood. The land prices have zoomed from Rs12,000 to Rs35,000 per square yard. Naidu has roped in renowned London-based architectural firm Foster + Partners to design the government complex to house the legislative assembly, high court and secretarial buildings. Sources say Amaravati would require a budget of at least Rs 40,000 crore.
Looks like the BJP government in Odisha is in a hurry to obliterate all things related to the previous Biju Janata Dal government headed by Naveen Patnaik. No sooner he took over as chief minister, BJP’s Mohan Charan Majhi renamed Naveen Patnaik’s 40 popular schemes. Seeing no resistance to this move seems to have emboldened the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to go one step ahead by mooting the idea of renaming Odisha’s 156-year old prestigious Ravenshaw University, named after a Britisher Thomas Edward Ravenshaw who was Commissioner of Odisha in 1865. Pradhan’s idea seems to have backfired and created a major uproar across all classes of people in the state. Alumni members of Ravenshaw and Odisha’s intelligentsia have formed the Ravenshaw Heritage Forum to protest against this name change initiative. They say, there are two temples in Odisha, one is the Lord Jagannath Temple at Puri and the other one is Ravenshaw University and we will not allow name change of the university.. The BJP seems to have realised their folly and are now trying to back-peddle saying it was Pradhan’s personal opinion. Devdas Chottray, the first Vice Chancellor of Ravenshaw University said “University’s identity is related to its name representing both pre-modern and modern Odisha”. The university represents not just an institution of learning, but is an integral part of Odisha identity which produced eminent statesman like Biju Patnaik, Harekrushna Mahtab, Pratibha Ray, poet Jayant Mohapatra, Madhusudan Das, Gopabandhu Das and others. Former Indian Ambassador to Philippines Lalduhthlana Ralte who studied in Odisha said “Nothing wrong in having a colonial past, it reminds us to be resilient”.
Despite the fact Tata Power invested Rs 4,245 crore in infrastructure development and network upgradation in Odisha, there was a sudden protest-march from farmers in Western Odisha’s Bargarh district. The protesting farmers led by Saheed Madho Singh Regional Farmers’ Organisation dumped over 3,000 smart power meters in Tata Power’s office alleging that their electricity bills are inflated and are disproportionate to their actual usage. It seems farmers who were earlier getting monthly bills of around Rs 500 per month and this number has gone up anywhere between Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000 today. Also, there are allegations that farmers have been asked to pay arrears anywhere from Rs 50,000 to Rs 4 lakh. Besides, faulty billing farmers are complaining of frequent power cuts and low voltage as well. Tata Power Western Odisha Distribution CEO Praveen Kumar Verma, however said the smart meters are accurate in measuring the readings. He has assured the farmers their concerns would be addressed including replacement of old cables, voltage fluctuations and power cuts.
The Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das seems to be on a roll. For the second consecutive year, the 67-year old Das has been ranked as the top central banker globally by the US-based Global Finance magazine. The RBI tweeted, “Happy to announce that for the 2nd consecutive year, RBI Governor @DasShaktikanta has been rated ‘A ‘, in the Global Finance Central Banker Report Cards 2024.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated him. Mahindra Group chairman, Anand Mahindra tweeted saying “Shakti has won a gold medal in the Central Bank Olympics” and added “his parents have named him suitably.” Das has emerged as one of India’s most effective RBI Governors bagging the international rating recognition. Sources say, this recognition is a silent rebuttal to Doubting Thomases who compared Das with past RBI Governors who were economists like Raghuram Rajan and Urjit Patel against Das’s history specialisation and his unassuming personality. But, Das has quietly walked the talk. The recent global recognition essentially means Das’s strategy has outperformed his peers. The report card said Governor Das achieved this through his domain knowledge, originality, creativity, tenacity in handling India’s inflation control, economic growth, currency stability, interest rate management. Being a seasoned bureaucrat — he was Economic Affairs Secretary, Revenue Secretary before he became a regulator — he did not fall into the usual trap of challenging the government of the day. He quietly let his work speak and the market has always given him thumbs up. His term ends in December 2024 and speculations are rife whether he will get a second extension.
Controversy seems to be the middle name of VK Pandian, ex-private secretary of former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik. After a big setback to the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, Pandian had gone under the radar. But he is not lucky. BJP is hell bent on exposing his abuse, misuse and misappropriation of state machinery, public money and power. According to the BJP, Pandian has taken advantage of Patnaik’s failing health and is seeking a probe. It seems Pandian used the State helicopter services round-the-year — to visit 147 constituencies during elections. He is not entitled to such a facility going by the protocol. Former chief minister Patnaik defended his “helicopter ride” saying he had asked Pandian to visit the people at their doorsteps and understand their grievances. “There was no misuse of public money on Pandian’s helicopter ride as the state spent Rs 1-1.5 crore per month on chopper rides all through the year,” said Patnaik. But, this number contradicts with former BJD’s minister Tukuni Sahu’s figure of Rs 10-12 crore on an average spent in a year. Congress seems to have welcomed BJP’s move to investigate Pandian’s expensive tours. According to current Odisha’s Transport Minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena as per the government rules, the Governor, Ministers, Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, MLA’s, Development Commissioner, Deputy Chairperson of State Planning Board and Chief Justice of Odisha High Court are authorised to use helicopters for official duty. This apart, CM can also give special approval to any other person on merit. Strangely, even after filing RTI, no data has been made available of the expenses incurred by Pandian on his chopper tours. There is speculation mining companies may have funded Pandian’s helicopter election tour.
Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi is a man in a hurry. With a view to create 350,000 jobs in the next five years he is going all out to set up industries and woo private sector investment. To his utter surprise, he learnt that the iron ore rich district of Keonjhar does not have a mega steel plant. Here one may recall expelled BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra’s public statement that “Mining lobby was standing in the way.” Clearly, lack of political consensus between the ruling party and Opposition parties explains this state of affairs. On his part, CM Majhi has given an in-principle for a mega steel plant to be set up in Keonjhar district so that it can provide employment to locals. Parallelly, he has also set up a high level task force under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary to discuss with business houses for setting up a steel plant in Keonjhar district on a priority basis. If CM succeeds in drawing investment in the steel project he would have pulled off a coup. Keonjhar will be third time lucky after the failure of Vedanta Group in 2004, Arcelor Mittal in 2006 and Uttam Galva could not move beyond MoU signing stage. An environmentalist commented that even though big time steel plant investment eluded Keonjhar district so far but mining has proliferated leaving its lush green hills damaged and locals languishing in poverty. The challenge for the Majhi government is not only to bring in big time investment in the sector but also ensure that it does not damage the environment and at the same time boost employment opportunities.
The maiden budget presented by the BJP-run Odisha government recently seems to have come in for harsh criticism from the intelligentsia and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik. The general feeling is that the BJP chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi has done a cut and paste job of his predecessor Patnaik’s popular programmes. Analysts pointed out that it was a rehash of most schemes implemented by Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal; the only difference being it was rechristened. On the social media questions were asked “Is CM Majhi running a name changing government or a game changing one?”. For instance, Patnaik’s ‘Mission Shakti’ programme has been renamed as Subhadra Yojana 2024 by the BJP. Similarly, BJD’s ‘Make in Odisha’ was changed to Utkarsh Utkal, ‘Ama Odisha Nabin Odisha’ renamed Vikasit Gaon Vikasit Odisha, ‘Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana’ rechristened Gopabandhu Jana Arogya Yojana. Looks like the BJP government in Odisha liked the content of BJD’s various schemes but not its name. Not to lose an opportunity Patnaik joined by the Congress blasted the Majhi’s government saying, “There is nothing new in the budget…more than 40 BJD’s government schemes were renamed by the Majhi government”. This renaming of these many schemes cannot be a coincidence. CM Majhi stated that the budget has taken inspiration from PM Modi’s ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikash’ vision. Besides cut-and-paste job, Majhi’s budget focussed on welfare of farmers and women as it was an election promise. Besides, it also saw prudence in funding Naveen Patnaik’s Metro Railway project at Bhubaneswar.
All eyes are on the BJP government in Odisha as it presents its maiden Budget on July 25. BJP’s national president JP Nadda was on a two-day visit to review the party’s overall plan and budget allocation under the leadership of chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi. All signals indicate that BJP will bite the welfare bullet albeit with pragmatism. BJP’s immediate objective is simple. It wants to meet the aspirations of the people and keep its poll promises. It is understood that Odisha budget outlay for 2024-2025 is likely to be around Rs 3 lakh crore — an increase of around Rs 40,000-50,000 crore over BJD’s earlier budget, say sources. To push welfarism, Majhi’s government has already made provision in the budget. Majhi plans to increase MSP of paddy to Rs 3,100 per quintal to meet its Samrudhi Krushak Yojana plan. To empower women, BJP had promised to pay Rs 50,000 per woman through its ambitious Subhadra Yojana Scheme which will be launched some time in September to coincide with the PM’s birthday. Sources say to cover 2 crore women beneficiaries the state government would require a budget provision of Rs 80,000 crore and it is expecting help from the Centre to partially fund this scheme. It will implement Ayushman Bharat Arogya Yojana as well as replace BJD’s KALIA cash incentive scheme. However, BJP sees wisdom in Naveen Patnaik’s Aahar scheme, the subsidised cooked meal scheme of rice and dal in 2015 to provide meals at Rs 5. This will be continued. However, BJP’s Urban Development Minister Krushna Chandra Mahapatra hinted that the KALIA scheme will be renamed. Like all other BJP ruled states, the party is saying cheers to welfarism in Odisha too.
With Odisha Legislative Assembly’s budget session set to begin on July 22, the big news is Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik is now bracing up to an “aggressive face off” to contain BJP. BJD now aims to play the role of a constructive and effective opposition leader. To achieve this the former chief minister has opted for “shadow boxing” strategy, similar to British Parliament’s Westminster style to contain BJP. Naveen babu has asked 50 of its MLA’s to solely focus on BJP’s strategy, policy and functioning henceforth. Effectively, it’s a two-pronged strategy. One, to empower BJD MLA’s in advance , so that they can intervene effectively during the forthcoming Assembly session on issues being neglected by BJP’s government headed by Mohan Charan Majhi. Two, it intends to take advantage of BJP inexperienced BJP ministers by raising a number of issues and forcing them to react. One can expect a stormy session in the Odisha Assembly henceforth. Political watchers are giving thumbs up to Patnaik’s strategy to push BJP on the back foot. But, BJP’s senior leader Samir Mohanty criticized Patnaik’s strategy as ‘absurd and superficial exercise’.
The Odisha Governor Raghubir Das is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Reportedly, his son Lalit Kumar beat Raj Bhavan staffer Baikuntha Pradhan black and blue on July 7. The trigger apparently was Pradhan, Assistant Section Officer at Raj Bhavan, sent a Maruti car to fetch the Governor’s son from Puri Railway station. This enraged Lalit Kumar as he was expecting a luxury car. Feeling slighted the Governor’s son and his friends slapped and kicked the Raj Bhavan staffer. Looks like the VVIP culture and sense of entitlement seems to be endemic across political parties. The explanation given by Pradhan for sending a small car is that there was no other vehicles available as the President of India Droupadi Murmu was officially visiting Raj Bhavan and all vehicles were pressed into her service. Pradhan has filed a formal complaint with the Governor’s Principal Secretary while his wife Sayoji has filed a complaint at Sea Beach police station at Puri seeking justice for her husband. The Opposition parties — BJD and Congress – is not letting go of this opportunity to embarrass the BJP ruled state. It’s seeking action against the Governor’s son.
With BJP firmly in the driver’s seat in Odisha now all eyes are on the chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi to deliver the poll promise. Doubting Thomases are already asking whether he can transform Odisha, create over 3.5 lakh new jobs, attract investments in the industrial and agriculture sectors? The world will get a whiff of his roadmap when Majihi presents the state’s budget on July 24. So far, Majhi has successfully opened up the four gates of Sri Jagannath Temple besides creating a corpus fund of Rs 500 crore for safety, security and beautification of the iconic temple. Majhi’s cabinet has also decided to formulate a policy for farmers within 100 days to increase MSP of paddy to Rs 3,100 per quintal. Sources say the chief minister faces huge challenges from providing drinking water, to quality school, to filling teachers’ posts lying vacant to scant irrigation facilities. Meanwhile, the new government is already facing criticism for announcing two big ticket projects without doing feasibility studies. Well known political commentator Ruben Banerjee has questioned the viability of such projects. In the case of Subhadra Jojana (earlier Mission Shakti) the state will spend Rs 50,000 crore to cover one crore women who will get a voucher of Rs 50,000 in two years. In the case of Bhubaneswar Metro Rail project, the government plans to invest Rs 6,000 crore. And this project will run into losses, says Banerjee. He is just over a month into his new role and it is unfair to compare him with the former legendary chief minister Naveen Patnaik who ran Odisha for over two decades.
After four decades, Ratna Bhandar, the fabulous treasury of Puri’s famed Sri Jagannath Temple will be opened. It was BJP’s poll promise. According to the rules and practices, gold, silver, jewels etc offered to Sri Jagannath Mahaprabhu are to be stored in this Ratna Bhandar. This fabulous Treasury of the Jagannath Temple has been enriched by the contribution and donations offered by the devotees from all over the world. The decision to open the treasure trove has been taken by the 16-member Ratna Bhandar Committee headed by Justice Biswanath Rath. The previous Biju Janata Dal government headed by Naveen Patnaik has been dragging its feet to open Lord Jagannath’s treasure trove saying its original keys were lost. During the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections campaign, the BJP leaders including PM Narendra Modi had made Ratna Bhandar inventory and missing keys a major poll issue. The Ratna Bhandar committee has prepared a draft SOP of how the inspection of the inventory will be conducted. A source from the committee said that “The audit process will be detailed and lengthy” since it was last audited in 1978 when Janata Party’s Nilamani Routroy was Odisha CM. The auditing of Ratna Bhandar will not clash with normal darshan of the devotees. Experts have been roped in to classify the jewellery and give its valuation. And this report will be made public as per BJP’s poll promise.
In the earlier regime, the mindless interference by Naveen Patnaik’s private secretary VK Pandian upset not only the bureaucrats but even politicians across the party lines. Putting an end to that unilateral style of management the new BJP government in Odisha headed by Mohan Charan Majhi is ensuring a high degree of professionalism. For starters it has started making changes at the top by appointing Manoj Ahuja, a 1990 batch Odisha cadre IAS officer, as the Chief Secretary. Sources say that Ahuja has been selected because leadership at the highest level have reposed faith in him for his administrative acumen and rich experience across the departments. He was the former Secretary of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Secretary of Steel & Mines, Food, Supplies & Consumer Welfare and Commissioner of Commercial taxes. All these experiences will help him to fast track numerous administrative issues, and ensure that the common man can feel the difference. It may be recalled that the PM in his election campaign has promised to make Odisha No 1 state and Ahuja needs to ensure the entire bureaucracy is in sync to work towards that goal. Now, with absolute majority, BJP cannot pin blame on BJD. Ahuja will retire on December 31, 2024 and there are strong indications that he, like the former two secretaries, will get an extension.
The big defeat of Biju Janata Dal both in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections has not put BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik on the back foot. On the contrary, there is now a new spring in his stride and he has decided to take the BJP head on both in his state and at the Centre. With his party losing all the Lok Sabha seats, Patnaik has asked his party’s nine Rajya Sabha MPs to work in a cohesive fashion and strongly raise Odisha issues in the Rajya Sabha. The most important issue for Naveen babu is the long-standing demand for Special Category status for Odisha as it is prone to natural disasters. BJD leader in Rajya Sabha Sasmit Patra said, “The BJD MPs this time will not be confined to speaking on issues only, but are determined to agitate if the BJP-led government at the Centre ignores Odisha’s interest”. BJD MPs will also raise the issues of poor mobile connectivity and low density of bank branches in the state, speedy completion of National and Coastal Highway projects, demand for revision of coal royalty which has been ignored by the Centre for the last 10 years. BJD seems to have a long laundry list: AIIMS in Sambalpur, Koraput and Balasore; IT parks, semiconductor, textile parks; 20 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana; Kendriya Vidyalayas in each block of Odisha; Eklavya schools in every scheduled (tribal) block.
With the BJP government firmly in place in Odisha, the key question in everybody’s mind: “Is it the end of Biju Janata Dal”? “Not really…the political drama has just begun,” says a clued-in political analyst from Utkal University. Yes, BJD’s supremo Naveen Patnaik is not giving up the fight. Patnaik is aiming to be a formidable opposition force to BJP. He wants to stay relevant and aims to bounce back at the right time. Immediate plan of action is to keep the party united, regroup rank and file and prepare strategies for the future. Observers say, this makes sense as Naveen is still loved by four-crore plus Odias. He is likely to take over as leader of opposition in the Odisha Assembly. Rumours are BJD MLA Prasanna Acharya is now batting to be Naveen’s deputy in the Assembly. Naveen babu’s future success will depend on four factors, one, what “mantra ” he has which will enable him to keep his numbers intact, two, having ears to the ground addressing rank and file concerns, three, quickly creating second rung leaders and four grooming a successor. After being in power for over two decades, Naveen babu for the first time is an opposition leader. So how he converts this into a political opportunity will have to be seen. Right now he is playing cards close to his chest.
Suspense is building up who will be BJP’s Odisha chief minister after strong contenders like Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram’s induction into Modi 3.0 Cabinet. The party high command seems to be unsure who should be its CM pick. To zero in on the right candidate the high command has deputed two senior party leaders Rajnath Singh and Bhupender Yadav to Odisha as central observers. Meanwhile, more names are doing the rounds. Sixty-four year old Suresh Pujari, former MP who won the Brajrajnagar assembly seat in 2024 is emerging as one of the serious contenders along with BJP state unit President Manmohan Samal, KV Singh Deo, Mohan Majhi and others. There seems to be some thinking that the high command may opt for the formula of one CM and two deputy chief ministers to maintain checks and balances. The dark horse in this race for the CM’s post could well be the retired IAS officer Girish Chandra Murmu who hails from Betnoti, Mayurbhanj district in Odisha. Sixty-four year old Murmu was the former Comptroller General of India and ex-J&K Lieutenant Governor. He was Principal Secretary to Modi during his CM days in Gujarat and also worked closely with home secretary as joint secretary. But, Modi is always known to spring surprises like he did with India’s first tribal President Droupadi Murmu who hails from Mayurbhanj, Odisha.
Biju Janata Dal Supremo Naveen Patnaik who was once considered invincible seems to have bitten the dust. BJD’s rank and file are angrily pointing fingers towards Patnaik’s Man Friday, VK Pandian for such humiliating defeat for BJD both in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. This “outsider” bureaucrat-turned-politician seems to have rubbed the people on the wrong side not only within his party but state’s Opposition leaders too. It is said, he used to micro-manage, stonewall people from meeting Patnaik and keep crucial information from reaching Patnaik. BJP played the “outsider” card smartly to dethrone Patnaik and his party. Sources say, BJP tom-tommed that Patnaik was a puppet in the hands of Pandian. This apart, the Ratna Bhandar controversy added fuel to the fire as well. Pandian, an IAS officer who hailed from Tamil Nadu, started his journey in 2011 when he joined the CM’s office as Naveen’s private secretary. He impressed CM Naveen with his efficiency and quickly rose to become a key figure in all decision making. He devised electoral strategies for the BJD both in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Essentially he was ‘go to man’ for all BJD leaders. So cocky was he about winning both the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections that he announced he “will quit politics if BJD does not get three-fourth majority”. Now, far from resigning he suddenly seems to have gone missing and rumours are that a look out notice has been put but BJD has clarified he has been sent to Delhi for official work. Patnaik, after a very long time, ‘went alone’ to hand over his resignation to the Governor. For Patnaik who had a glorious rule the end was unceremonious. Perhaps he trusted the wrong guy.
The visuals of Biju Janata Dal’s wealthiest candidate Santrupt Misra (former HR Director of Aditya Birla Group) sweeping the streets of Cuttack has gone viral. The Cuttack Lok Sabha seat is all set to witness a tough battle between six-time ex-BJD veteran MP Bhatruhari Mahtab who recently joined BJP and Misra (BJD) who for the first time is testing electoral politics. Why is Misra in the news? Not because he is the richest BJD candidate having assets of over Rs 461 crore plus investments worth Rs 308 crore and rumours of him investing in BJD? But locals are sitting up and taking notice of this corporate honcho going that extra length of picking the broom to win the Lok Sabha seat from Cuttack. But, he faces a very formidable opponent in BJP’s Bhatruhari Mahatab who was co-founder of BJD. Are voters impressed by the optics of Misra sweeping the street? Not really! The general impression is that he is not doing it for free…he is merely doing it to win votes. But, the moot point is can Patnaik’s handpicked man defeat a veteran politician like Mahatab? The general perception is that Mahatab has been six times MP, now it is time for change — a new face with new ideas and Misra fits that bill very well.
It’s now certain that the bonhomie situation between BJD-BJP is over at the highest level. It’s a war like situation between hopeful BJP and well entrenched BJD in Odisha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his electioneering visit to Odisha said “BJD’s expiry date is June 4, the day the Assembly election result will be announced”. Modi also invited Odisha netizens to the swearing-in ceremony of BJP CM on June 10, saying BJP will make Odisha No 1 in five years. Modi in his election speech compared BJD to the setting sun and Congress is already past, while BJP has come with the hope of a new dawn in Odisha” he said. Modi said, the BJP CM in Odisha will be someone who deeply understands and takes pride in Odia culture. Political watchers are asking a couple of questions: Is this Modi’s ploy to intimidate BJD, setting the election tone? Is Modi’s statement based on the feedback given by Odisha BJP leaders? Those who know Modi’s penchant for political spin, say this is Modi’s way for positive thinking just like his famous election promise of “achhe din“. After PM’s expiry day remark Patnaik’s protege VK Pandian said “Naveen Patnaik will take oath as Odisha CM for 6th time on June 9.” On his part, Patnaik said “It has been a long time BJP is daydreaming.” Former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh took a jibe at BJP Modi saying “Odisha has suffered gross neglect in the hands of Modi sarkar. He sighted CAG reports saying central transfers as percentage of revenue receipt has decreased from 57% in 2017-18 to 38% in 2021-2022.”
Union home minister Amit Shah who is on a whistle-stop tour across the country was in Odisha recently where both the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections to boost the morale of his voters and win the confidence of the voters. He told the cadres and leaders, BJP will form the Odisha government in 2024. As for the electorate he told them that BJP will make Odisha No1 state in the country if given an opportunity. He dropped the succession plan bombshell of Biju Janata Dal. He publicly said that chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s confidant VK Pandian may be a possible successor. This statement seems to have unnerved seasoned BJD leaders. But, there is no denying the fact that just like Modi who is admired across the country, so too is Patnaik across the state. He is the undisputed king; nobody can ease him out of the throne in this lifetime. The general feeling is that Patnaik will be sworn in as the CM for the sixth consecutive time in 2024. Yes, what goes against Patnaik is his age (77-year) and health but not lack of development of the state per se. Pandian emerging as eventual successor seems to have sown seeds of discord among senior BJD leaders. After Patnaik, they feel the party will disintegrate as nobody would want to be led by an outsider like Pandian. Against this backdrop, BJP seems to have the field wide open for it.
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Editor’s Note: Short Post Noticed By People Who Matter
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Looking back at the 1460 days, I must say Short Post has made its mark with people who matter via 4000 stories published in the areas of politics, business, entertainment and sports. All made possible by the unflinching commitment and dedication of our senior editors, most of whom have been part of this journey from Day One.
Small pack, big impact is in essence the story of Short Post which was launched at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. It shows our conviction. In all humility, I can say, we have created a new niche in the news segment space like Hindustan Unilever which created a new segment, when it launched CloseUp Gel.
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