Bhubaneswar: The Odisha BJP Legislature Party will meet on Tuesday to elect the party’s leader and the new Chief Minister of the state in the presence of two central observers – Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Bhupendra Yadav.
The new government will take oath on Wednesday evening at the Janata Maidan in Bhubaneswar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several top BJP leaders are scheduled to attend the oath-taking ceremony tomorrow.
It is worth mentioning here that the BJP secured a majority in the Odisha Assembly winning 78 seats in the 147-member House.
Several rounds have been doing the rounds for the top post in Odisha, but the BJP leaders have been unable to pick a consensus leader for the Odisha Assembly so far. As things stand now, there are three contenders in the BJP for the Chief Minister’s post.
According to sources in the party, though the BJP state unit president Manmohan Samal lost the Assembly election from Chandabali this time, he is among the frontrunners for the Odisha Chief Minister’s post. Another favourite is the Brajarajnagar MLA and former state BJP chief Suresh Pujari. The party is also considering veteran leader and Patnagarh MLA KV Singh Deo for the post.
However, the BJP leadership may also spring a surprise as it had done in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh in 2023 by announcing Chief Ministers who political experts did not anticipate.
Earlier, several names were in contention for the post, but now it seems that the party has decided that the new Chief Minister will be from among the elected MLAs.
