The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik will take oath as the chief minister of Orissa for a record consecutive third term tomorrow.
He along with other members of his ministry are slated to be sworn in by the governor at Raj Bhawan at 11.30 am tomorrow.
Patnaik met governor, Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare today morning at the Raj Bhawan to discuss on the formation of the new government.
The discussion lasted for about 25 minutes.“I have been invited to form the government by governor M C Bhandare” BJD supremo told the media after the meeting.
The chief electoral officer (CEO) for Orissa, Alka Panda yesterday met the governor and handed over the list of newly elected members of the state assembly, couple of hours after Naveen Patnaik was unanimously elected as the leader of the BJD Legislature Party.
The BJD became the first regional party to return to power for consecutive third time by winning 103 seats in the 147-member state assembly. The party was also victorious in 14 of the 21 Lok Saba seats in the state. Meanwhile, the race for ministerial berths hotted up today with BJD boss having a closed door meeting with his principal secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik.
All eyes are now on the likely candidates who would head some of the most important portfolios in the next BJD government as Patnaik is expected to throw up some surprises. Important names who are expected to make it up to the Patnaik’s dream team include Prasanna Acharya, Bikram Keshari Arukh, Maheswar Mohanty, Raghunath Mohanty, Devi Prasad Misra, and Arun Sahu.
