Bhubaneswar: Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro paid floral tributes to former Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal on Assembly premises in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.
Biswal, who served as the CM for two brief periods – December 7, 1989, to March 3, 1990, and December 6, 1999, to March 5, 2000, had breathed his last at a private hospital on Friday evening. He was 84.
He was elected as an MLA for the first time from Laikera constituency in 1974 and another five terms from the same seat. He was also elected to the Lok Sabha from Sundargarh parliamentary constituency in 2009.
Biswal was the first tribal chief minister as well as last from the Congress in the state. While he replaced JB Patnaik in December 1989 after Congress(I) was routed in the Lok Sabha elections, he was given the reins of the state again in December 1999 when Giridhari Gamang was asked to step down for his failure in handling the 1999 Super Cyclone.
His mortal remains will be consigned to flames at his native place in Jharsuguda district with state honours later today.
