Congress leader Nalini Mohanty hospitalised

Mohanty, who represented Rajnagar assembly constituency in Kendrapara district for seven consecutive times, was rushed to a private hospital last night and his condition was stated to be "serious". "Mohanty is under observation. Efforts are on to bring him back to a stable condition", a hospital bulletin said.

A close confidant of former chief minister Biju Patnaik, Mohanty was a minister in his cabinet from 1990-95 and also became a minister in Naveen Patnaik`s government from 2000-02 before being dropped. Mohanty then joined Congress and won the seat in 2004 but lost to BJD in 2009 elections. Assam governor J B Patnaik, chief minister Naveen Patnaik, senior BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra and a host of politicians visited the hospital and enquired about his health.