Vice President Venkaiah Naidu cancels Odisha visit due to bad weather

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday cancelled his Odisha visit due to inclement weather in Chhattisgarh, officials said. Naidu had arrived at Raipur in Chhattisgarh from Delhi on Thursday.

He was scheduled to take a chopper from Raipur to Bolangir on Friday morning to inaugurate a new LPG bottling plant of BPCL, the officials said.

Naidu was also scheduled to attend the platinum jubilee celebrations of Rajendra College here, they said.

The vice president's chopper could not take off from Chhattisgarh due to dense fog, the officials said.

After waiting at Raipur airport for two hours, he returned to New Delhi, they said.

In a voice message in Odia language, Naidu expressed regret for not being able to attend the programmes in Odisha.

The programmes should continue in his absence, he said.

"Though I have been waiting at Raipur airport for two hours, it is not possible for the chopper to take off," Naidu said.

The LPG bottling plant with an annual capacity of filling 42 lakh cylinders has been developed by state-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).