Naveen Patnaik

Patnaik said this at election meetings in Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts where polling to be held in third and fourth phase on April 23 and April 19 respectively.

Patnaik extended full cooperation to the flying squad and kept waiting inside the chopper till the process was complete on Tuesday, they said.

"Of the 244 candidates in the fray for the 35 assembly segments, 70 are corepatis," said Odisha Election Watch Convenor Ranjan Mohanty, adding that 13 candidates have assets worth Rs 5 crore and above, and 24 others have assets between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore.

Patnaik's statement apparently made it clear that the regional party is ready to support any coalition in the interest of the state. Odisha has a total of 21 Lok Sabha seats.

Patnaik has been elected to the state assembly four times in a row from Hinjili in Ganjam district since 2000.

The CM, however, described Atal Bihari Vajpayee as one of the best prime ministers the country had.

The BJD supremo lambasted the BJP-led NDA government accusing it of 'apathy' towards Odisha.

In his bid to women voters, Patnaik also promised that the BJD government would provide works worth Rs 5,000 crore per year to Mission Shakti workers if his party returns to power in the state for fifth consecutive times.

'I am sure that one of our ex-MPs spreads this rumour, I think to get political gain,' Patnaik told a private news channel before going on campaign trail to western Odisha.

Patnaik asked the question in Nabarangpur meeting hours after Prime Minister Modi alleged that both the Congress and BJD want to keep the poverty alive for doing politics. Modi said this earlier in the day while addressing two election rallies in Sundergarh and Sonepur.

Patnaik said this while addressing a series of election meetings at Kalimela and Mathili under Nabarangpur Lok Sabha constituency and Jeypore under Maoist-hit Koraput Lok Sabha seat.

Patnaik batted for ensuring adequate representation of women in decision-making bodies like the Parliament and state assemblies.

Patnaik, however, denied tickets to two sitting women MPs - Pratyusha Rajeswar Singh(Kandhamal) and Sakuntala Laguri (Keonjhar). Singh has resigned from the BJD and joined BJP.

Naveen Patnaik founded the BJD in 1997, and stormed to power in 2000. The BJD was in alliance with the BJP for nine years from 2000, but Patnaik pulled out of the alliance before the 2009 polls

Hitting out at Patnaik over his role in the coal block allocation during his tenure as union minister for steel and mines, Pradhan said a Nagpur-based company which was registered in January, 1999 was allotted a coal block on April 3, 1998.

Acharya, a senior advocate of Orissa High Court, is also the BJP's spokesman. He was assigned the responsibility of the party's vice-president barely two days ago.

The assets worth over Rs 63.87 crore owned by Patnaik include movable properties of Rs 2326554.52 and immovable inherited properties valued at over Rs 636415261, according to the affidavit.

This is the fifth consecutive time that the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president is seeking election from Hinjili.

The chief minister said he will contest the state polls from Hinjili in Ganjam district and Bijepur in west Odisha's Bargarh district.

Patnaik has suggested to the committee to prepare the party's manifesto based on the opinion of the people being collected through BJD's "Ghare Ghare Sankha" (conch in every house) programme.