Though the entire world including Odisha joined the yoga camps marking the first International Yoga Day, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik preferred to stay indoors on Sunday wearing his traditional lungi and T-shirt at his residence Naveen Nivas. But unlike his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Patnaik did not open his lips or criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the yoga programme.
“It would have been good for Naveenbau’s health had he joined yoga camp. Yoga would help reduce his ever-protruding belly,” said a yoga teacher at the Kalinga Stadium here, the venue of the State-level yoga camp. However, some of Patnaik’s Ministers, MPs and MlAs did not hesitate to stretch their bodies in yogic exercises, apparently to the amusement of Modi.
The yoga session was organised by the Health and Family Welfare Department in association with the Odisha Ayush Society. Prominent among those present were Health Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Sudam Marandi, Culture and Tourism Minister Ashok Panda and Higher Education Minister Pradeep Panigrahy.