Bhubaneswar, June 20 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that he had politely declined an invitation from US President Donald Trump to visit the United States on his way back from Canada after the G7 Summit, choosing instead to travel to Odisha -- the "land of Lord Jagannath," which he called more important.

Speaking at an event in Bhubaneswar, where he inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of several development projects, the Prime Minister hailed the completion of one year of the first-ever BJP government in Odisha. He called it not just a political milestone, but "an anniversary of good governance and public trust."

"At a time when Odisha's BJP government is completing one year, the people of Odisha are preparing for t...