Unwell Patnaik leaves celebrations midway
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik appeared to fall ill during his Independence Day address in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday as he fumbled several times during the speech and left the podium midway.
Soon after he unfurled the Tricolour at the state-level parade ceremony , the 71-yearold chief minister appeared unwell as he sneezed several times. He then stumbled on several words during his address, sweating profusely. He cut short his speech and left the podium midway after around 15 minutes of the address.
But despite the illness, Patnaik received salute at the statelevel parade in which 54 troupes, including school and college students participated.
“He felt slightly uncomfortable due to the high-humidity level. Doctors examined him and found no serious health issues. He is now completely fit and fine and will attend all programmes as per schedule,” chief minister’s public relations officer Sukanta Panda said.
Patnaik in his speech spoke about 200 years of Paika Rebellion while paying homage to Buxi Jagabandhu and other paikas on this occasion.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat unfurled the tricolour at a school in Kerala’s Palakkad district on Independence Day, flouting an order of the district administration banning him from doing it.
Palakkad district collector Mary Kutty has directed the police to register a case against the head master of Karnakiamman Higher Secondary School, who flouted the district administration’s warning.
It was not immediately known whether the district administration will book the RSS chief also.
Kutty had on Monday restrained the school from allowing Bhagwat to hoist the flag, saying it was not proper for a political leader to hoist the national flag in a government-aided school.
The collector said the head teacher or a students’ representative of the school can unfurl the flag.
The order was delivered to the school by a tehsildar and deputy superintendent of police.
Slamming the RSS chief for “insulting the national flag”, Kerala’s culture Minister A K Balan said the government will explore legal options against the school and the saffron outfit.