Heat-hit Naveen
The capital city knows no respite from the sweltering heat, which is beginning to bother even chief minister Naveen Patnaik. “O Baba!” he exclaimed as a blast of hot air hit him in the face the other day while coming out of the secretariat building. As the securitymen scurried to shield him from the blazing sun, he asked them to retreat back to the safety of the Sachivalaya’s shady veranda and got into his car, which had its air-conditioner running. The concerned chief minister is learnt to have asked officials to ensure that poor people with no means to protect themselves do not suffer during the summer.
Out of bounds
It seems the new police commissioner, Sunil Roy, is going to set his own standards. During his three-hour inspection of Capital police station recently, the place was practically out of bounds for general public. Even mediapersons were made to wait outside. When journalists did manage to enter the premises and sought to know from Roy how the investigation of an attempt to murder case involving a pregnant woman was progressing, the commissioner asked them to speak to his public information officer instead. The scribes were taken aback as earlier the commissioner used to speak to them directly and when he was not there, the deputy commissioner answered their queries.
Up in arms
The Congress’s internal feud has worsened with a group of MLAs, led by former state working president Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra alias Lulu, declaring an open war against the leadership. However, the rift in the party notwithstanding state unit president Niranjan Patnaik seems happy about having managed to get the unstinted support of state party affairs-in-charge Jagdish Tytler in the fight against the dissidents. Patnaik, whose leadership qualities have been questioned repeatedly by the dissidents, apparently thinks that support of Tytler, a former Union minister, could also help him gain the confidence of AICC president Sonia Gandhi, who appears perturbed about developments within the party in Odisha. “Getting close to Soniaji matters most for Patnaik. That is why he does not seem to be unnecessarily bothered about the war in the state unit,” said a senior leader.
On a low key
The growing distance between him and chief minister Naveen Patnaik has forced senior BJD leader and Rajya Sabha member Pyari Mohan Mohapatra to lie low for past sometime. Not only has he refrained from commenting on the party and state affairs, his consultations with BJD MLAs have also become less frequent. Mohapatra’s supporters, whose numbers appear to be dwindling, had hoped he would be asked to accompany the chief minister to Britain on the latter’s maiden foreign trip. Such hopes have, however, belied with chief minister keen to ensure that no one steals the limelight from him during the visit, which would have him interacting with the high and mighty in London.
Out of favour
The controversy surrounding the death of the former Hindol Block chairman, Nabaghana Sahoo, has cast a shadow on women and child welfare minister Anjali Behera’s political career. Sources said the minister seemed to have fallen out of favour with the chief minister after Orissa High Court recently issued her a notice on a PIL seeking a CBI probe into the incident. Once a trusted aide of Anjali, Sahoo is said to have developed ambitions of his own, which allegedly brought him into conflict with the minister. Though Anjali has denied all allegations and insinuations trying to link her with the incident, there seems no end to speculation over her future.
Helpless Oram
In the politics of western Odisha state BJP president Jual Oram and his predecessor Suresh Pujari are seen as rivals. No wonder a section of Oram’s supporters are putting part of the blame for his current woes on leaders such as Pujari, who enjoys sizeable support among the cadres in the western belt. While that may or may not be true what cannot be denied is the fact that Oram’s political stock is on the decline even in Sundergarh, his home district, where he has lost some key supporters in the past one year. His slide began soon after Bonai MLA Bhimsen Choudhary questioned his authority in the wake of Rajya Sabha horse-trading controversy. Though Choudhary was finally suspended from the party, he ensured that Oram suffered equally. He has been working overtime to undermine BJP president’s base in Bonai and other parts of Sundergarh district with Oram looking on helplessly.
