Bhubaneswar: Setting all speculations at rest former Kendrapara MP, Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda has finally joined the Bhartiya Janata Party. His saffron switch was expected, but yet when it came about, it was a big media event given his image as a high-profile politician who used to be the intellectual face of Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata […]
Bhubaneswar: I cut my journalistic teeth reporting for a highly respected newspaper–perhaps the best and the most powerful in the country ( it still is)—in undivided Bihar. The state was a political hotbed and you never had a dull moment. In the cauldron politics of the state in those days George Fernandes, the maverick socialist […]
Bhubaneswar: With veteran Bijay Mohapatra mollified and back in the BJP fold there is intense speculation about the possible return of his comrade-in-arms, former union minister, Dilip Ray to the party. Ray, who was elected to the state assembly from Rourkela on a BJP ticket in 2014, had quit the party miffed at the inordinate […]
Bhubaneswar: Candidate selection is invariably an invidious exercise in any political party at the time of elections. But the wave of discontent currently sweeping the three major parties of the state over the issue is perhaps unprecedented. There have been wholesale resignations from the ruling BJD with most of these leaders joining the BJP which, […]
Bhubaneswar: If the BJP really aspires to emerge as the alternative to the Biju Janata Dal ( BJD ) in Odisha it has to perform well in all parts of the state in these elections. The focus, however, would be on how it fares in coastal and western Odisha, the regions that have been dominating […]
Bhubaneswar: The old adage ‘the more things change the more they remain the same,’ seems quite applicable in the case of Congress in Odisha. The appointment of veteran, Niranjan Patnaik as the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president before the announcement of elections was supposed to rejuvenate the party in the state. The move had enthused […]
By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s reported statement to a national TV channel that his party would support the political combination at the Centre that can best safeguard Odisha’s interests is an indication that he wants to keep his options open. This election, unlike the past one, is going to be difficult for […]
By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: In the cacophonous campaign of political parties marked by mutual recrimination environmental issues often get lost during the elections. It is no different this time. Hardly any party is raising any environment-related issue of consequence. Interestingly, a few days ago chief minister, Naveen Patnaik sought to bring Chilika, Asia’s largest brackish […]
By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Ironical as it may seem neither chit fund nor the mining scam has emerged as a major issue in these elections in Odisha where the last phase voting will take place on April 29. Only BJP leaders have been talking about these scams but people in general seem indifferent to them. […]
By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Maoist rebels have tried their best to disrupt the ongoing polls. On the eve of voting for the second phase of elections they had shot dead a polling official in Kandhmal. The victim, Sanjukta Digal, was on her way to her designated polling booth when the ultras triggered a blast targeting the […]
By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Reconstruction in the wake of havoc wreaked by cyclone Fani is by far the biggest challenge chief minister, Naveen Patnaik has faced since he took up the reins of the state in 2000. The initial years of Patnaik’s first stint in power were devoted to rebuilding infrastructure damaged by the 1999 […]
By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: One of the biggest casualties of cyclone Fani has been the green cover of the areas hit by it. Destruction of trees in cities like Bhubaneswar and Puri has been massive, making large areas completely bare of any kind of foliage. The capital city, one of the greenest in the country, […]
By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The visuals of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi offering prayers at Kedarnath shrine and meditating there were splashed across TV screens ahead of the seventh and last phase of elections. The seats going to the polls in this phase include Varanasi from where Modi is seeking re-election. Polling in this round will […]
By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: As the counting day nears there is growing anxiety among ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders. The question uppermost in their minds is what happens if the party fails to reach the magic figure in the state assembly. On the face of it this a purely hypothetical question but it is […]
By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has made it clear that its support to any political combine at the Centre would depend upon the coalition’s willingness to safeguard the interests of Odisha. Thus, the party which had so far been following a policy of equidistance from Congress and the BJP, seems […]
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