Bhubaneshwar: Amid the suspense over the name of the next chief minister of Odisha, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tribal MLA in the state on Friday said the 78-member legislature party would meet on Saturday to announce the name.
Senior MLA Rabinarayan Naik from Kuchinda of Sambalpur district on Friday said that the state legislature party would meet in the state capital Bhubaneswar to announce the name ahead of the swearing-in ceremony of the BJP government on June 10.
“The parliamentary party is likely to take a call on the new chief minister on Friday, and a formal announcement will be made on Saturday,” said Naik.
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The BJP parliamentary board is the highest decision-making body for all important issues starting from selection of candidates to formation of government and selection of chief minister. All the 20 BJP MPs from Odisha have been consulted by the top leadership.
According to the party leaders, the names which are being considered include former Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, former Union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram, Puri MP Sambit Patra, national vice president and Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda and senior leader from western Odisha, Suresh Pujari. Among all the names, only Pujari is an MLA, who won from Barajarajnagar assembly constituency.
{{/usCountry}}According to the party leaders, the names which are being considered include former Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, former Union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram, Puri MP Sambit Patra, national vice president and Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda and senior leader from western Odisha, Suresh Pujari. Among all the names, only Pujari is an MLA, who won from Barajarajnagar assembly constituency.
{{/usCountry}}The swearing-in ceremony to be attended by over 30,000 people would be held at Janata Maidan of Bhubaneswar. According to party officials, the state government has decided to employ 50 senior officers, including nine IAS, one Odisha Finance Service (OFS) and 40 other senior Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officers, to supervise the swearing-in ceremony of the new ministry.
BJP leader and its spokesperson Sajjan Sharma said the swearing-in ceremony will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah along with chief ministers of several National Democratic Alliance-ruled states who campaigned for the party in the Odisha election.
The BJP won 78 seats in the Odisha Assembly elections, while two rebels of the party who contested as independents and won have decided to join the party, raising the strength to 80 in the 147-member Odisha Assembly.