BHUBANESWAR, JUNE 5: Amid speculations over who would be the next chief minister of Odisha, state BJP president Manmohan Samal on Wednesday the party’s parliamentary board will take a decision on it in a day or two.
Speaking to reporters, he also pointed out that PM Narendra Modi during an election rally in Berhampur had said that the new BJP chief minister would take oath on June 10.
“The selection of the CM will be based on the criteria set by the PM — an Odia who will uphold the culture and tradition of the state will be the next chief minister of Odisha,” Samal said.
Maintaining that all commitments made by the BJP before the polls would be fulfilled, he said that the assembly election was fought to protect Odia pride, culture and tradition.
“The people trusted BJP’s assurances and the new government will certainly work for those. People have rejected the idea of a non-Odia CM and voted for the BJP,” he added.
Stating that the BJP was confident of its victory, he said it was people who fought the elections as they were fed up with the “corrupt” BJD government.
BJP won the assembly elections, bagging 74 seats in the 147-member House, and routed the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government that ruled the state for 24 years.
Speculations were rife over who would be the next CM of the state.
Among the names making rounds are Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who has already gone to Delhi, BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda, Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi and Balasore MP Pratap Sarangi.
STATE PRESIDENTS LOSE
BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik and BJP and Congress state presidents Manmohan Samal and Sarat Pattanayak respectively, had to suffer defeats in the Odisha assembly elections.
Although Patnaik won from his traditional Hinjili assembly seat in Ganjam district by a slender margin of 4,636 votes, the five-term former chief minister had to suffer a humiliating defeat to a political novice in Kantabanji constituency in Bolangir.
The BJD supremo lost Kantabanji to BJP’s Laxman Bag by 16,344 votes. While Bag got 90,876 votes, Patnaik received 74,532 votes.
This was the first time that Patnaik faced electoral defeat in his political career spanning 26 years.
While the BJP stormed to power in Odisha by securing 78 seats in the assembly, the party’s state unit president Manmohan Samal suffered defeat in Chandbali segment to BJD’s Byomakesh Ray by a margin of 1,916 votes.
While Ray secured 83,063 votes, Samal could manage to get 81,147 votes.Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Sarat Pattanayak suffered a worse fate as he finished fourth in Nuapada assembly segment, bagging only 15,501 votes.
The seat was bagged by BJD candidate Rajendra Dholakia, who got 61,822 votes, while Independent nominee Ghasiram Majhi came second, securing 50,941 votes. (PTI)
