Biju Patnaik's family hands over ancestral property to Odisha government

BHUBANESHWAR: Former Odisha Chief Minister Biju Patnaik’s sons and grandson on Tuesday handed over their ancestral property in Cuttack to the state government. Current chief minister and the late leader’s younger son, Naveen Patnaik, said the large bungalow, Anand Bhavan, would be converted into a centre of learning, museum and library.

Also present, as one of the heirs to Biju Patnaik’s property, was the chief minister’s nephew Arun Patnaik, son of Delhi-based businessman Prem Patnaik. The obvious question asked to Arun Patnaik was if he saw a future for himself in politics. "I have no such intentions, at the moment," he replied.

Naveen Patnaik isn’t married. Of late, there have been debates over who is the heir to him.

The chief minister’s immediate family, including author Geeta Mehta, have stayed away from politics. And according to those close to Patnaik, that’s how he’d like it to stay.

Patnaik, whose friends consisted of prominent socialites and artists in Delhi and New York, had to be convinced to join politics, after the death of Biju Patnaik, by his father’s proteges Dilip Ray and Bijay Mohapatra. Both have since fallen out and are now part of the BJP leadership team in the state.