Odisha health minister Naba Kisore Das, who died of multiple gunshot wounds on Sunday, was a strong leader from the western part of the state and a three-time MLA. The minister, who was believed to be the richest in the state cabinet, had a penchant for luxury cars and owned 40 of them.
Condoling his untimely death, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said the Biju Janata Dal leader was an asset to the government and his party. The minister was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar, after a policeman fired at him when he reached Brajrajnagar in Jharsuguda for a programme early in the morning. The assistant sub-inspector, identified as Gopal Das, was nabbed by local residents and handed over to police.
Formerly associated with the Congress, Naba Kisore joined the BJD just before the 2019 assembly elections and became an MLA for the third consecutive time. He was later given the charge of the health and family welfare department and, as health minister, successfully dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic in the state in 2020 and 2021. Known to have efficiently handled the mass vaccination drive against Covid, he left many impressed with his performance as health minister.
He was active in state politics and was an influential leader. When he contested from the Jharsuguda assembly seat on a Congress ticket for the first time in 2004, he was defeated. But in 2009, he was elected as the MLA contesting once again on a Congress ticket. In 2014, he fought the polls on a Congress ticket yet again, and became the MLA for the second time.
Presenting himself as a frontline leader of the Congress, he was already the acting president of the state unit of the party. But, in 2019, he left the Congress and joined the BJD and once again registered a victory for the third time.
Born on January 7, 1962, Naba Kisore completed his matriculation from Sambalpur Bhojpur High School in 1978, and then graduated in English in 1989 as well as law in 1994. He was still a student at Gangadhar Meher College in Sambalpur when he joined the Congress in the 1980s.
An industrialist and businessman, the minister had a flourishing hotel and transport business. Recently, he was in the limelight after offering prayers at the Shani temple in Maharashtra’s Shingnapur, where he donated close to 1 crore gold kalas.
Patnaik, who expressed deep shock and distress over the minister’s death, said Naba Kisore was instrumental in strengthening the BJD and was a grassroots leader. He further said the doctors made every possible effort to save him but unfortunately, he could not recover from the fatal injuries.
“As a leader, he was instrumental in strengthening the Biju Janata Dal; he was a grassroots leader, and loved and respected by all. He cut across party lines and sections of people. His death is a great loss to the state of Odisha," Patnaik said, adding that the minister was an asset to the state government and his party.
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