Chief Minister of Orissa, Mr. Naveen Patnaik, completes 10 years in office today. He assumed office of the Chief Minister way back in 2000 on this day. As the president of Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Mr. Patnaik led his party to victory with a record number of three successive Assembly elections in 2000, 2004 and 2009. Though BJD won the first two Assembly elections with the help of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the last one was fought to win by Mr Patnaik minus the saffron brigade.<br/><br/>However, the 10-year rule of Mr. Patnaik has failed to uplift the economic condition of poor people of Orissa. The state has slipped to the bottom position among all the states in the country so far as poverty is concerned and it is the poorest state today. The Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) signed by Naveen Patnaik’s government to bring in Rs 6 lakh crore investment to state has also failed to take a headstart. Steel majors like Posco, Mittal, Tata are considering to pack up due to slow progress in land acquisition for their projects.<br/><br/>Once known for his clean image, the Orissa Chief Minister is under the shadow of multi-crore mining scam. He has been under attack from the main opposition party Congress for killing of tribals at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district by police firing, suicide by farmers and ever increasing Maoist menace. BJD’s one-time ally, the BJP is branding Mr Patnaik as anti-farmer for giving fertile land to industrialists at a throw-away price. The riot in Kandhamal district in 2008 after the murder of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati which drew international attention also put a question mark on the administrative ability of Mr. Patnaik.<br/><br/> <br/>