June 13, 2024
BHUBANESWAR – Four-time MLA Mohan Charan Majhi was on Wednesday sworn-in as the 16th chief minister of Odisha along with his two deputies – K V Singh Deo and Pravati Parida — in a colorful function attended among others by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister and BJP president J.P. Nadda, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States besides outgoing Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik were among the dignitaries, who graced the swearing-in ceremony at the Janata Madan here.
PM Modi arrived here after attending swearing-in-ceremony of Chandrababu Naidu, the new Chief Minister of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
Governor Raghubar Das administered the oath of office and secrecy to Majhi, his two deputies, eight ministers of cabinet rank and five Ministers of State (Independent Charge).
Tasting their first electoral victory, Prabhati Parida, Suresh Pujari, Prithiviraj Harichandan, Bibhuti Bhushan Jena and Krushna Chandra Mohapatra have been made cabinet ministers. Pradeep Balasamanta, Gokula Chandra Mallick and Sampad Kumar Swain who are making their debut into the Assembly took oath as ministers with independent charges.
As many as 9 CMS of BJP-ruled States- Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Mohan Yadav (Madhya Pradesh), Bhupendrabhai Patel (Gujarat), Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam), Vishnu Deo Sai (Chhattisgarh), Pushkar Singh Dhami (Uttarakhand), Bhajan Lal Sharma (Rajasthan), Pramod Sawant (Goa) and Manik Saha (Tripura) attended the swearing in of the first ever BJP government in Odisha.
Singh Deo, six-time MLA from Patnagarh assembly constituency and Prabhati Parida, first time Nimapara MLA were also sworn in as deputy chief ministers.
As many as 16 BJP MLAs, including Chief Minister and his two deputies, were sworn in as new ministers with 11 members including CM and two deputies holding cabinet rank, while five MLA-elect were sworn in as minister of State for independent charge.
Meanwhile BJP has selected former minister and Ranpur MLA Surama Padhy as candidate for Speaker of the Odisha Assembly.
BJP tried to maintain caste and regional balance in the formation of the new government with four ministers from the tribal community and two from the scheduled castes while 10 ministers come from the general category.
52-year-old Majhi, four-time MLA from mineral-rich Keonjhar seat and one of the prominent tribal faces of the party , was a strong tribal face of the party and rose to the highest post from humble beginning as a sarpanch in the late nineties.
With Majhi sworn in, he became the third tribal Chief Minister following Hemanand Biswal and Giridhar Gamang after Odisha became a separate State on linguistic basis way back in 1936. BIswal and Gamang had a brief stint as Chief Ministers in the late nineties when the Congress was in power. However, the duo had limited success in terms of performance.
With the maiden BJP Government led by Majhi sworn in, it has put to an end the 24-year-old long fairytale stint of Naveen Patnaik as the head of the BJD Government in Odisha. BJP had won 78 seats in 147-member House while BJD and Congress won 51 and 14 seats respectively. The CPM won one seat, and three MLAs are independents.
The independents candidates, who were rebels of the saffron party, have in the meanwhile announced their decision to support the new BJP Government. Therefore in the 147-member Assembly, BJP has the strength of 81 MLAs, 7 more than the majority.