Bhubaneswar, April 26 -- Despite Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's announcement and several strikes and agitations, the district status to the Padampur subdivision in Bargarh district is still hanging fire. It has now come to the fore that none other than the Odisha government's own minister Tukuni Sahu may have been the impediment.

She herself let the cat out of the bag at a meeting of senior citizens organised in Titilagarh two days ago.

While addressing the meeting, she said, "Had a district been announced, I would have been the first person to resign. I had made up my mind that I would go straight to the Chief Minister to submit my resignation if Padampur was declared a district, ignoring Titilagarh. But the Chief Minister didn't do t...