Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Nov 16:

Senior Congress leader and former Odisha minister Niranjan Patnaik has deeply condoled the death of eminent Gandhian leader and former MLA of Kendrapara, Purushottam Nayak, who passed away at the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack this morning.

In a message, Patnaik said Nayak had joined the freedom movement after being inspired by the call of Mahatma Gandhi against untouchability at the age of 23.

Nayak had accompanied the Mahatma as a close associate during the latter’s padayatra in Kendrapara in 1934. He was sent to jail by the British rulers in 1940 during Satyagraha movement and was again sentenced to three-year jail term during the Quit India Movement in 1942, Patnaik said.

He had made sincere efforts in the development of agriculture and irrigation in the undivided Cuttack district, Patnaik said, adding that the death of Nayak is not only a big loss to Odisha but also to the whole country.