Odisha CM Visits Grieving Dama To Condole Wife’s Death

Bhubaneswar: Keeping aside political differences, Chief Minister and BJP president Naveen Patnaik on Thursday visited veteran politician and former minister Damodar Rout to condole the death of his wife Snehalata Mohapatra.

The former BJD leader, who was expelled from the party last September, joined the BJP on March 15. He has been a bitter critic of Naveen and his government.

BJP leaders like Dharmendra Pradhan and Baijayant Panda were also at Dama’s residence.

Snehalata passed away at the Apollo Hospital in Bhubaneswar, where she was undergoing treatment for the past six months, early this morning. She was 72. She will be cremated at Swarga Dwara in Puri.

In the past, Naveen had paid floral tributes to the former BJD leader-turned-rebel Pyarimohan Mohapatra after his body arrived at Bhubaneswar airport from Mumbai where he breathed his last in a hospital on March 19, 2017.

The BJD president had suspended Pyari from the party after an aborted coup attempt in 2012.

Naveen had also attended the 11th day rites of the two-time Rajya Sabha member.

However, none from the BJD attended the funeral of the father of another former party leader-turned rival, Baijayant Panda. “Hurt and unhappy” over the incident, the former Kendrapara MP had resigned from the regional party in May last year after being suspended in January that year for anti-party activities.