Amid Modi and BJP's Odisha push, CM Naveen Patnaik looks to reinvent image

Modi and BJP's success have forced Naveen Patnaik into an image makeover. But is it too late?

At 70, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has had several avatars. He has been a painter, author, an expert on Indian designs and handlooms and a politician. In the 1970s, Patnaik and Rajya Sabha member Naresh Gujral used to jointly run a business and had a shop at one of Delhi’s five star hotels.

But, for the past 17 years, ever since he first became the chief minister in the year 2000, the people of Odisha know Patnaik as their spotless but uncommunicative and grim faced leader. However, the last month and a half has changed that.

If its success