Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik visited the residence of the former Assembly Speaker and Digapahandi MLA, Surjya Narayan Patro at Nayapalli in the capital city on Sunday. He expressed profound grief over the demise of Patro and offered his condolences to the late leader’s bereaved family members.
It is worth mentioning here that Patro breathed his last at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar on Saturday. He was 75.
Numerous people, BJD members, and political leaders cutting across party lines also visited Patro’s residence in Bhubaneswar to pay their last respects to the departed leader.
It has been learned that Patro’s body will be taken to the Odisha Assembly and Sankha Bhawan, and later, it will be taken to his constituency in Digapahandi.
Patro’s son Biplab said that the leader’s last rites will be performed in Digapahandi at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the departed leader’s family members donated Patro’s eyes as per his last wish of Patro. A team of doctors removed his eyes within 10 minutes of his death on Saturday.
Born on December 24, 1948, in Berhampur in Odisha’s Ganjam district, Patro completed his BSc and LLB before joining politics. In 1977, he was elected a Municipal Councillor in Berhampur.
Patro was a popular leader and won the Assembly elections for seven consecutive terms. In 1990, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the first time from Mohana – the seat he contested and won four times.
Patro has been the MLA of Digapahandi for three consecutive terms since 2009.
