Bhubaneswar Buzz: Bharat Ratna for Biju Patnaik, BJD-BJP Pre-poll Alliance?

Odisha goes for simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls, and the political chatter is that the BJD and BJP will face the two elections in an alliance, though they might cede the opposition space completely to the Congress. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Odisha on March 5, which happens to be the 108th birth anniversary of late chief minister Biju Patnaik, father of CM Naveen Patnaik. And the buzz in the state is that the PM may announce a Bharat Ratna for the late CM