Hello Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: Controversy followed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Odisha with several senior Congress leaders taking strong exception to the permission taken by the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) from the State Election Commission (SEC) for his proposed visit to Congress Bhavan on Tuesday to interact with party leaders. Many of them felt it was not necessary. However, the stage is set to ring in the biggest scientific congregation of the year. A galaxy of leaders in various fields __ space to telemedicine to climate change __ are already in the city and would be putting their heads together. The Prime Minister reached here in the evening to inaugurate the 99th Indian Science Congress (ISC) tomorrow. Besides, he is also scheduled to interact with partymen at the Congress Bhavan.Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, PCC president Niranjan Patnaik, Odisha in-charge of Congress Jagdish Tytler and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Bhupinder Singh received him at the airport. Singh drove to the Raj Bhavan from the airport where he will be spending the night. As many as 76 state Congress leaders including Central minister Srikant Jena were at the airport to receive the prime minister. State Congress leaders were a worried lot after Niranjan received a phone call yesterday to take permission from the SEC for Singh’s visit to the Congress Bhavan. At the extended executive meeting several leaders opposed this.As a Congress leader, the Prime Minister does not need anybody’s permission to visit the party office as he is not coming to address any election meeting, senior leader Narasingh Mishra said. General secretary of the OPCC Arjya Kumar Gyanendra, however, said that the SEC has not imposed any condition on the visit to the party office. “The Commission does not have any objection to the PM’s visit” an one line letter has reached the party office from the SEC, he said.