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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Ajit Pawar wins Baramati battle, defeats nephew Yugendra by more than 1 lakh votes
Baramati, Nov 23: Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister and NCP president Ajit Pawar on Saturday won from his traditional Baramati assembly constituency by defeating his nephew and NCP (SP) candidate Yugendra Pawar by more than one lakh votes.
Ajit, who parted ways with his uncle Sharad Pawar last year and was seeking an eighth term from this family bastion in Pune district, polled 1,81,132 votes while Yugendra Pawar polled 80,233 votes.
Ajit, thus, defeated his younger brother's son by 1,00,899 votes.
Five months ago, Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) had triumphed in Baramati in the Lok Sabha elections, with incumbent MP and Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule defeating Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra by a margin of 1.5 lakh votes.
Both the NCP factions did not leave a single stone unturned during the assembly campaign, and even Sharad Pawar's wife Pratibha Pawar and Sule's daughter Revati were seen campaigning for Yugendra, while Ajit Pawar brought his mother on stage during his concluding rally in Baramati.
While Sharad Pawar told the people of Baramati that they needed a new leadership, alluding to Yugendra Pawar whom he described as a highly-educated candidate, Ajit Pawar cautioned people not to fall prey to the "emotional pitch" by the senior Pawar.
After Saturday's results, Ajit Pawar, who along with several other NCP legislators sided with the BJP-Shiv Sena government in 2023, could claim to be the real political heir of his estranged uncle who founded the NCP in 1999.
Sunetra Pawar, now a Rajya Sabha member, thanked the people of Baramati for reposing their faith once again in `Dada' (elder brother in Marathi, as Ajit is fondly called).
