In a heartwarming gesture, Union Home Minister Amit Shah welcomed former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik who arrived on the stage to attend the swearing-in ceremony of CM-designate Mohan Charan Majhi. As Patnaik stepped on to the stage, Shah walked up to him and shook hands with warmth. The BJD chief then met other BJP leaders. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also attended the event.
Mohan Charan Majhi took oath as the new Odisha Chief Minister on Wednesday (June 12) as the BJP swept the Assembly polls on June 4. He was administered the oath of the officer by Odisha Governor Raghubar Das, in a grand ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states. With this, Majhi also became the first Chief Minister from the saffron party as the 24-year-old tenure of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik ended following a massive defeat in the State Assembly elections. In the recently-held Assembly elections, Majhi won the Keonjhar seat with a margin of around 87,815 votes. He defeated BJD's Mina Majhi from the constituency.
Majhi vows to implement BJP's poll promises
Earlier in the day, Majhi, a four-term MLA, said work will begin within 100 days of the formation of the new government to fulfil the promises made in the BJP's manifesto. He was elected leader of the BJP legislature party in Odisha at a meeting held on Tuesday. Mohan Majhi, who started his career as a Sarpanch from 1997-2000, was elected to the state assembly for the first time in 2000 from Keonjhar with the BJD-BJP alliance. He was re-elected in 2004. From 2005 to 09, he was the government deputy chief whip in the BJD-BJP coalition government. He was again elected as an MLA in 2019.
Odisha Assembly Elections 2024
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 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.
