Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mohan Charan Majhi was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Odisha at Janata Maidan on Wednesday evening. Odisha Governor Raghubar Das administered the oath in a grand ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states.
This marked the saffron party’s first Chief Minister, as 24 years of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik’s tenure ended following the party’s significant defeat in the State Assembly elections. In the recent elections, Majhi emerged victorious in the Keonjhar seat with a margin of around 87,815 votes, defeating BJD’s Mina Majhi from the constituency.
On the same day, a four-term MLA, Majhi expressed his commitment to initiate work within 100 days of forming the new government to fulfill the promises outlined in the BJP’s manifesto.
#WATCH | Newly sworn-in Chief Minister of Odisha, Mohan Charan Majhi with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Bhubaneswar. pic.twitter.com/g8Vxt5KRvf
— ANI (@ANI) June 12, 2024
Majhi was elected the leader of the BJP legislature party in Odisha during a meeting held on Tuesday. Mohan Majhi, who began his political career as a Sarpanch from 1997-2000, was first elected to the state assembly in 2000 from Keonjhar with the BJD-BJP alliance.
He was re-elected in 2004 and served as the government deputy chief whip in the BJD-BJP coalition government from 2005 to 2009. He secured another term as an MLA in 2019.
In the 2024 Odisha Assembly Elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 78 seats with a vote share of 40.07 per cent, receiving 1,00,64,827 votes across the state.
Notably, the BJP had previous alliances with the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the 2000 and 2004 Odisha Assembly elections, winning 38 and 32 seats in those respective polls.
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