The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday selected four-time MLA Mohan Charan Majhi as the maiden BJP chief minister of Odisha.
After Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik's era of 24 years came to an end, the state on Tuesday got its new chief minister.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh announced Majhi's name as the leader of the BJP’s legislature party.
Majhi won the Keonjhar assembly seat in the just concluded Odisha assembly elections, defeating BJD’s Mina Majhi by 11,577 votes.
He was elected to the Odisha Legislative Assembly from Keonjhar in the 2019 Odisha Legislative Assembly election as a member of the BJP. Manjhi also represented the Keonjhar twice during the years 2000 to 2009.
Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and Pravati Parida will be the next Odisha’s Deputy Chief Ministers.
BJP leader Pravati Parida won the Nimapara Assembly constituency in Odisha by defeating BJD’s Dillip Kumar Nayak with a margin of 4,588 votes. Deo defeated BJD's Saroj Kumar Meher by a margin of 9,3823 votes.
The names were selected at the BJP legislature party meeting, which was attended by Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Bhupender Yadav as observers.
The BJP achieved a comfortable majority in the 147-member Assembly by securing 78 seats.
The party went to the elections under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi without naming a chief ministerial candidate.
The swearing-in ceremony for the first BJP government in Odisha has been scheduled for June 12. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the oath-taking ceremony at Janata Maidan in Bhubaneswar.
The new government will be sworn in on June 12 at 5 pm. PM Modi is scheduled to arrive at the state capital at 2:30 pm and proceed to Raj Bhavan from the airport. He will later attend the oath-taking ceremony at Janata Maidan at 5 pm.
The BJP has also invited BJD president and outgoing chief minister Naveen Patnaik for the swearing-in ceremony.
The first invitation card for the ceremony was, however, given to Lord Jagannath in Puri, and it was delivered at the 12th-century shrine by some newly elected MLAs.
The Odisha government has announced that all state government offices and courts in Bhubaneswar will close after 1 pm on June 12 due to the swearing-in ceremony of the new chief minister and council of ministers.
