Bhubaneswar: Even as Orissa Governor M C
Bhandare and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik stayed away from
meeting the Dalai Lama, a number of ministers and Speaker of
the Orissa Assembly met the Tibetan spiritual leader.
Orissa's Tourism and Culture Minister Debi Prasad
Mishra and a host of senior bureaucrats received the Dalai
Lama at the airport here on January 11, before he left for
Chandragiri in Gajapati district.
The leaders and ministers met the Dalai Lama last
evening after he arrived here. The ministers who met the
Buddhist monk include Mishra, Mass Education Minister Pratap
Jena, Deputy Chairperson of State Planning Board S N Nayak and
assembly Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat.
"Chief Minister Patnaik did not meet Dalali Lama in
view of a central directive," a senior official at the chief
minister's office explained while opposition BJP strongly
criticised the state government for not according state guest
status to the spiritual leader.
Though there was directive from the central government
on meeting of state leaders with the Dalai Lama, the monk,
while replying a question at Chandragiri, said his activities
in India would not have any impact on Sino-Indian
relationship.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 14, 2010, 20:50