Kanank Vardhan Singh Deo has been elected as the new Deputy Chief Minister in the BJP MLAs' meeting held at Bhubaneswar today. Along with him, Pravati Parida will also be the deputy chief minister of new Odisha government. Moreover, Mohan Charan Manjhi has been elected by BLA MLAs as the new Chief Minister of Odisha.
Earlier in the day, Central Observers Rajnath Singh and Bhupender Yadav reached party office in Bhubaneswar and held a meeting with party MLAs. During the meeting Mohan Charam Manjhi was elected as the new Chief Minister with two deputies — Karan Vardhan Singh Deo and Pravati Parida.
Who is Karan Vardhan Singh Deo?
Karan Vardhan (67) is one of the prominent BJP leaders in Odisha. He won the Patnagarh Assembly constituency five times in a row in 1995, 2000, 2004, 2009 and 2014. Later in 2019, Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) Saroj Kumar Meher defeated him by a margin of 11,159 votes. Before his first win in 1995, he lost 1990 assembly election from Patnagarh. He lost to Janata Dal's Bibekananda Meher by merely 1,925 votes. In these elections, he registered his sixth win from Patnagarh. He defeated Saroj Kumar Meher of the BJD by a narrow margin of 1357 votes.
KV Singh Deo, who comes from Patnagarh royal family, had also served as the minister in Naveen Patnaik-led BJD-BJP coalition government between 2000 to 2009. He had served as Minister of Industries and Minister of Urban Development in Government of Odisha.
His wife Sangeeta Singh Deo is a multiple-time MP from Bolangir. He is associated with the BJP for the past 35 years and has also served as BJP President in the past.
BJP's result in Assembly elections
Notably, The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 78 seats in the Odisha Assembly Election 2024 with a vote share of 40.07 per cent. The BJP received 1,00,64,827 votes in the entire state. The saffron party won 23, 10 and 6 seats in the 2019, 2014 and 2009 Odisha Assembly elections.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was having an alliance with the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the 2000 and 2004 Odisha Assembly elections. The party won 38 and 32 seats in the 2000 and 2004 Assembly polls respectively.
