Former IAS Officers Resign As Chief Advisors To Odisha Govt After BJD Defeat In Assembly Polls

Bhubaneswar: After the defeat of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Assembly elections, party supremo Naveen Patnaik had resigned as Chief Minister. Similarly, two retired IAS officers Suresh Chandra Mahapatra and R Balakrishnan also resigned as Chief Advisors.

While Mahapatra was posted as Chief Advisor to Chief Minister’s Office, Balakrishnan was Chief Advisor, Special Initiatives.

The resignations of the two key bureaucrats came to the light after the General Administration and Public Grievance Department issued office orders dated June 5 regarding the acceptance of the resignations.

Apart from these two ex-bureaucrats, another advisor Upendra Tripathy has also tendered his resignation, sources said. He was the Chief Secretary of Tripura. After his return to Odisha following completion of his tenure, Tripathy had been posted as adviser to the CMO.

After the election results were declared on June 4, Naveen Patnaik submitted his resignation as Chief Minister to Governor Raghubar Das and as per the norms. The Governor requested Patnaik to remain in charge as the care-taker Chief Minister until the new government is sworn-in.

It may be noted here that BJD faced defeat at the hands of BJP as the saffron party stormed into power in Odisha by winning 78 seats in the 147-member state Assembly. BJD was able to secure 51 seats while the Congress won 14 seats.