Niranjan Patnaik new Congress chief in Odisha
New Delhi, April 19: The Congress on Thursday appointed Niranjan Patnaik as its new state unit chief in Odisha where elections are due next year.
Three Working Presidents - Naba Das, Chiranjiv Biswal, both MLAs, and Pradeep Majhi, a former MP - were also appointed, a party release said.
Patnaik replaces Prasad Harichandran.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi also made several other key appointments in the Odisha unit to the put the party in poll mode amid efforts by the BJP to make inroads in the state.
Former MP Bhakata Charan Das has been appointed Chairperson of the Campaign Committee, former Union Minister Srikant Jena will head the Manifesto Committee, former state unit chief Jaidev Jena the Core Committee and former Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal of the Disciplinary Committee.
The coordination committee will be headed by Jitendra Singh, who is party incharge of Odisha.
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ISRO's PSLV-C62 lifts off with earth observation satellite, 14 other payloads
Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh) (PTI): ISRO's trusted workhorse PSLV lifted off from the spaceport here on Monday, carrying an earth observation satellite along with 14 other commercial payloads for both domestic and overseas customers.
Marking the first launch of the year, the mission is part of the contract secured by NewSpace India Ltd, the commercial arm of ISRO.
The 44.4 metre tall four-stage PSLV-C62 rocket soared from the first launch pad at a prefixed time of 10.18 hours on Monday.
After a journey of 17 minutes, it is expected to place the satellites into Sun Synchronous Orbit at an altitude of about 511 km.
After the separation of all the satellites, scientists would restart the fourth stage (PS4) of the rocket to de-boost and enter a re-entry trajectory for the separation of the last satellite, the Kestrel Initial Technology Demonstrator (KID) capsule.
This process is expected to last over two hours after lift-off.
Both the PS4 stage and the KID capsule would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and make a splashdown in the South Pacific Ocean, ISRO said.
