Bhubaneswar: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pravati Parida has been announced as the second Odisha Deputy Chief Minister, alongside Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, after an MLA meeting until central observers Rajnath Singh and Bhupendra Yadav on Tuesday. This came as Mohan Charan Majhi was announced as Odisha's first BJP Chief Minister after Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Naveen Patnaik's 24-year-old rule.
Parida won the Nimapara Assembly constituency in Odisha by defeating Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) Dilip Kumar Nayak with a margin of 4,588 votes. The 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 BJP had 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.
Parida, 57, is a social worker with an LLB degree from Utkal University in 1995 and an MA in Public Administration from the same university in 2005. She enrolled as an advocate in the Odisha High Court the same year. She is married to Shyam Sundar Nayak, a former government employee.
Parida was fielded by the BJP again to face BJD's Dillip Kumar Nayak in the Odisha Assembly elections held alongside the 18th Lok Sabha elections in the Nimapara constituency located in Puri district, which has delivered three consecutive times in favour of BJD's Samir Ranjan Dash. Samir Ranjan Dash defeated Pravati Parida in 2014 and 2019 with a margin of 29,637 and 32,008 votes respectively.
Parida contested the Odisha Assembly polls from Nimapara in 2009 as an independent candidate but could garner just 4.52% of the votes and lost.
Mohan Charan Majhi becomes Odisha CM
Meanwhile, BJP leader Mohan Majhi will be the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Minister of Odihsa as the 24-year-old tenure of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik ended following a massive defeat in the State Assembly elections. Mohan Charan Majhi won the Keonjhar seat with a margin of around 87,815 votes, trouncing BJD's Mina Majhi.
The names were selected at the BJP legislature party meeting, which was attended by Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Bhupender Yadav as observers. The party went to the elections under the leadership of 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 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. All state government offices and courts in Bhubaneswar have been instructed to close after 1 pm on Wednesday due to the swearing-in ceremony.
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