Chennai: Triggering speculation of a possible realignment among non-UPA and non-NDA parties, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and her Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik met on Friday, pointing to the "natural synergy" between them. But the Presidential election issue did not figure at the luncheon meeting held at the Poes Garden residence of Jayalalithaa, said the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. "If we had discussed anything like that, we would have...
07:02 PM, May 11, 2012
New Delhi: The Centre has attacked Odisha for an "alarming" rise in the activities of Maoists and accused the Naveen Patnaik government of failing to take any counter measure. "It is pertinent to mention that Odisha is the only state of India where activities of CPI(Maoists) are spreading to new areas at an alarming rate without requisite counter-measures by the state government," the Home Ministry said in a message sent...
02:08 AM, May 11, 2012
Chennai: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday said discussions over the issue of the Presidential candidate are still in the early stage and there is lot more time left to take a decision. "At the moment, we are still in discussions with MPs, MLAs and important persons, as this is a very important national decision," he told reporters when asked about his party Biju Janata Dal's stand on the...
10:30 PM, May 10, 2012
Bhubaneswar: Weeks after the abduction and unharmed release of an MLA and two Italian national, the Naxals in Odisha abducted and shot dead a police officer. Assistant Sub Inspector Kruparam Majhi was shot dead soon after his abduction in the Nuapada district of the state. The question being raised after the incident is " are the police becoming too much of an easy target? At around 12 noon, Assistant Sub...
09:01 PM, May 08, 2012
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik says one has to be firm against crimes, especially over abduction by Maoists. Speaking to Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate, Patnaik said that his state police officers know how to handle the hostage crisis and are able to combat the situations well. The BJD Chief says he also has an open mind towards the NCTC issue. Here is the transcript of the entire interview: Karan...
11:06 PM, May 05, 2012
New Delhi: The National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) was his dream project, a nationwide counter terrorism body but it looks like the fate of the NCTC has been sealed even before it could take off. From a meeting with the state DGPs, to an amended standard operating procedure, to assuring the Chief Ministers in writing, the Home Ministry has done everything to break the NCTC logjam yet Chief Minister after...
09:47 PM, May 05, 2012
New Delhi: Strongly opposing the Centre's plan for setting up an NCTC, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said it "violates" the principle of federalism and the structure adopted for it suffers from "serious and basic flaws". Referring to Emergency days, Kumar said that if such powers are given to a secret intelligence agency of the Central Government, they will remain prone to misuse against political rivals and asked...
06:59 PM, May 05, 2012
New Delhi: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Saturday said if suggestions made by the state governments are incorporated and the proposed NCTC is suitably amended, he was open to supporting its formation. "We have made certain suggestions for amendment in the NCTC. All the three powers - intelligence gathering, operations and full control over the civil services - by NCTC cannot be accepted. If NCTC is suitably amended, we...
06:42 PM, May 05, 2012
New Delhi: No democratic country has given wide ranging powers to their secret intelligence agencies and hence the NCTC should not be placed under the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday said. Patnaik, who was speaking at the Chief Ministers conference on the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), said that the body in its present form is not acceptable to his state. "I do appreciate that...
06:28 PM, May 05, 2012
New Delhi: Opposing the NCTC tooth and nail, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday accused the Centre of taking the country towards "autocracy" and demanded that a sub-committee of Chief Ministers be set up to go into the proposed body. Launching an all-round attack on the Home Ministry headed by her bete noire P Chidambaram, she alleged that Tamil Nadu was being shown "utter contempt" by the Centre...
06:19 PM, May 05, 2012
New Delhi: Slamming the Centre for taking a unilateral decision on formation of NCTC, key UPA ally and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said such institutions "upset" the federal structure of the country and was "not acceptable" to the state. She said setting up of institutions like National Counter Terrorism Centre with the proposed powers of arrest and seizure upsets the federal structure of the country and...
06:09 PM, May 05, 2012
New Delhi: The meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and state chief ministers on Saturday failed to end the deadlock on the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), which is winding down to a close. According to sources, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik have suggested that a sub-committee must be formed to discus the formation of the anti-terror agency....
03:41 PM, May 05, 2012
Speaking to Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik that his party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is unlikely to support Congress's candidate for the Presidential poll. ...
09:05 PM, May 04, 2012
New Delhi: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has said that his party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is unlikely to support Congress's candidate for the Presidential poll. Speaking to Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate, he said he will hold wider consultations before reaching a consensus on the candidate in the party. On consultations with various parties, he said, "I would say that its possible. It seems more than likely that we...
05:43 PM, May 04, 2012
Bhubaneswar: Four days after release of Jhina Hikaka from Maoist captivity, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday questioned why the MLA, belonging to his party the BJD, should resign and said he was looking forward to meeting him. "Why should anyone who has been elected democratically resign under pressure? I do not believe in that at all," Patnaik told reporters replying to a question whether Hikaka should resign as...
05:38 PM, Apr 30, 2012
Bhubaneswar: After more than a month in Naxal captivity, Odisha's BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka was finally set free at Balipeta in Koraput on Thursday. The BJD's Laxmipur MLA has apparently been released on the condition that he would resign from his seat after this. It was an emotional reunion for the MLA with his wife after a nerve-wrecking 33 days. Kaushaliya Majhi received her husband Jhina Hikaka after the Naxals...
09:08 PM, Apr 26, 2012
Home Minister P Chidambaram was reacting to Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik's allegations that the Centre did not help his government solve the hostage crisis. ...
03:51 PM, Apr 23, 2012
New Delhi: Notwithstanding efforts by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram in trying to reach out to the states that they were together in tackling terrorism, chief ministers including Narendra Modi, J Jayalalithaa and Naveen Patnaik attacked the Centre. Modi and Patnaik even met Jayalalithaa separately later and are understood to have discussed a common strategy on issues like NCTC. All a part of the strategy to...
09:07 AM, Apr 17, 2012
Opposition CMs Narendra Modi, Naveen Patnaik and Jayalalithaa, in a royal snub to the Centre, held a parallel meet after accusing the Centre of trying to destroy the federal structure. ...
11:58 PM, Apr 16, 2012
Narendra Modi, Naveen Patnaik and Jayalalithaa held a parallel meet after criticising the Centre at the internal security conference. ...
09:39 PM, Apr 16, 2012
