The titular head of Odisha’s Gajapati dynasty and former parliamentarian, Gopinath Gajapati Narayan Deo passes away at age 76, following prolonged illness. Gopinath Gajapati was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar due to heart-related. He was under medication for over three years.
Born in 1943, Deo had represented the Berhampur parliamentary constituency for two terms as a Congress member in 1989 and 1991. He switched over to the BJP in 1998 and joined the ruling BJD a decade later, in 2009.