Odisha govt deputes ministers to invite CMs for Hockey World Cup

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has deputed several ministers to various states and union territories to invite the Chief Ministers for FIH Hockey Men’s Hockey World Cup, which will be hosted by Odisha for the second consecutive time.

On behalf of the Chief Minister, Science and Technology Minister Ashok Chandra Panda met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in Hyderabad on Wednesday, and invited him to the World Cup.

Panda is also scheduled to invite Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.

Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath this evening at Lucknow and handed the invitation of Patnaik to Yogi.

Similarly, Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallik extended an invitation to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at Patna on Wednesday evening.

Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak handed over the invitations to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in Chennai and Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangaswamy in Puducherry.

Rangaswamy said that people of Jagannath Dham need no appointment or protocol to meet him and thanked Naveen Patnaik for the invitation.

Nayak will also hand over the CM’s invitation to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, officials said.

Odisha government’s SC, ST Development Minister Jagannath Saraka met the Chief Minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren this afternoon at Ranchi and invited Soren to the Hockey World Cup, 2023.

Odisha Higher Education Minister Rohit Pujari on Tuesday met Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Bhopal to extend the invitation on behalf of the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Odia Language Literature & Culture Minister Aswini Kumar Patra will go to Dehradun to extend an invitation to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.

By the first week of January, all the Chief Ministers will be invited to attend the grand sporting event, the officials said.

Odisha Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera had earlier met Union Ministers Anurag Thakur, Ashwini Vaishnaw and Dharmendra Pradhan in New Delhi to invite them to attend the event.

The Hockey World Cup will be organised in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela from January 13 to 29, 2023.

(IANS)