Congress Government
Came the elections in 1946. Nabababu won the elections from the north Kendrapara Constituency, and became a Cabinet Minister in the Indian National Congress Government having the Revenue, Supplies and Forest Departments under his charge. His spectacular achievement was the enactment of the Anchal Shasan Bill which was meant to empower the people, but it became a victim of vested interests. He also nationalised some transport services and organised a new transport company for south Odisha.
Integration of the princely States in Odisha, for which Nilgiri had shown the way, was an event of historical importance. Nabababu was so such engrossed with the problems of the people that he had little or no time to be devoted to his family affairs. Malati Devi was working in the tribal areas. In 1948, their only son Vinayak committed suicide. This was a great shock for Nabababu. Completely shaken, he resigned from Government and decided to work for the people.
Nabababu became the Organiser of Basic Education for the State of Odisha. His thinking on, and interest in, Basic Education got a chance to be put into action in the field. He worked hard to make Basic Education pragmatic as well as viable.
Jawaharlal Nehru was then the Prime Minister of India. He wanted that Nabababu should return to Government and become the Chief Minister of Odisha. He tried to persuade him, but did not succeed. A series of letters exchanged between Nehru and Malati Devi suggests that Nabababu was persuaded through Malati Devi to become the Chief Minister of Odisha, and eventually he became the Chief Minister.
Read more about this topic: Nabakrushna Choudhuri
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