Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will be flying to New Delhi at 1.30 pm on Saturday before embarking on an 10-day foreign trip. He will depart for Rome at 4.15 pm on June 20, sources said.
He is scheduled to return on June 30 and will be present at Rath Yatra in Puri on July 1 and attend the budget presentation in state Assembly on July 2. He will be accompanied by 5T Secretary VK Pandian.
The CM is scheduled to visit Italy and Dubai. Odisha Bytes was the first to report about his likely meeting with Pope Francis, the Pope of Rome and Head of Catholic Church in Vatican City. He is also likely to attend a programme of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Rome. On June 26, he would travel to Dubai and attend an investors’ meet organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).
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This will be Naveen’s second foreign trip in his 22 years as Chief Minister of Odisha, after a gap of ten years. His only overseas trip was in May 2012 when he toured the United Kingdom and an alleged aborted coup was attempted by then Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra.
This proposed visit had sparked a war of words between the BJP and the ruling BJD with the former questioning his likely absence from the Assembly during the crucial monsoon session when the state budget for the current financial year will be presented.
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