Mohan Majhi To Take Oath As Odisha CM Today; Know More About This Tribal BJP Leader From Keonjhar

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, Chief Minister-designate Mohan Charan Majhi and his deputies KV Singhdeo and Pravati Parida paid floral tributes to Sriram Chandra Bhanj Deo, ‘Utkalamani’ Gopabandhu Das, Parala Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati and Ramachandra Mardaraj Deo in Bhubaneswar.

Along with them, the entire Council of Ministers (19 ministers) may also take oath at Janata Maidan here later in the day.

Majhi, a four-time MLA and a prominent tribal leader, said that work will begin within 100 days of government formation to fulfil the promises made in its Sanklap Patra.

The 52-year-old belongs to the Santhal tribal community and is the only be third tribal CM of Odisha after Congress’s late Hemananda Biswal and Giridhar Gamang, both of who had shorter tenures.

Speaking to the media, KV further said: “Our work starts from point zero. The moment we finish our oath, we will start working on the promises made to the people through our election manifesto. We had gone to the people seeking their blessing and they have been kind to give us the opportunity of coming to the government for the next 5 years….”

Keeping his commitment to the people of Odisha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending the swearing-in ceremony of the Odisha CM. “He had said that an Odia pua (son of the soil) will take oath as the CM and assured to make Odisha number 1 state in the next 5 years,” he said.

Outgoing CM Naveen Patnaik has also consented to be present at the swearing-in ceremony, he added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has ended the 24-year rule of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) led by Naveen Patnaik by securing 78 of 147 Assembly seats. The four-time Keonjhar MLA, who shares his Santhal roots with India’s first Adivasi President Droupadi Murmu, is seen as a strategic pick by BJP months ahead of the assembly elections in predominantly tribal Jharkhand.

The PM will arrive here by 2.30 pm and the swearing-in ceremony will take place at 5 pm. Six Union ministers — Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Bhupender Yadav, Dharmendra Pradhan, Jual Oram and Ashwini Vaishnaw — are scheduled to attend the swearing-in ceremony. Besides, CMs of Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh will be present.

While entire stretch from Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) till Janata Maidan has been declared a no-flying zone, 3,500 police officers, including 78 platoons of police forces, have been deployed for smooth conduct of the event at Janata Maidan

At least 13 DCP/SP/additional IG rank officers, 18 deputy commandants/additional deputy commandants, 58 assistant commandants/DSPs/ACPs, 94 inspectors, 312 sub-inspectors/assistant sub-inspectors, 258 havildars and 94 constables will be deployed to maintain law and order. Two special tactical units will also be engaged during the swearing-in ceremony.

Police also issued a traffic advisory and imposed restriction on vehicular movement between Jaydev Vihar and Nalco Square from 2 pm to 7 pm or till the event is over.

ABOUT THE NEW CM

An RSS member since his student days, Majhi started his political career as the sarpanch of Raikala gram panchayat in the backward district of Keonjhar in 1992. He continued in the post till 1997 and then joined as a Guruji in Saraswati Sishu Vidya Mandir at Jhumpura in Keonjhar in 1997.

He was first elected to the state assembly in 2000 from Keonjhar Sadar Assembly seat when BJD and BJP were in an alliance, and re-elected in 2004. From 2005 to 2009, he served as the deputy chief whip in the BJD-BJP coalition government. After two successive defeats in 2009 and 2014, he continued his work at the grassroots level and bounced back in the 2019 election, securing the Keonjhar seat again. He had then made headlines over being forced to spend several nights on a footpath due to delay in allotment of a government quarters to him. Majhi told the then assembly speaker, S N Patro, that he couldn’t rent a house at short notice, and his mobile phone was stolen while he was sleeping in the open.

In the last assembly, he was the opposition whip. He was also the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and a member of the Standing Committee of SC and ST under the ORV Act. He was suspended by former speaker Pramila Mallik along with Dalit legislator Mukesh Mahaling for allegedly throwing a fistful of dal at her in protest against an alleged dal procurement scam for midday school meals.

He recently retained his seat by defeating BJD’s Mina Majhi by 11,577 votes.

COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

Senior leaders like Jayanarayan Mishra, Suresh Pujari, Rabinarayan Naik, Laxman Bag, Surama Padhy, and Bhaskar Madhei may find a place in Majhi’s council of ministers. All except Bag have been elected to the state assembly at least twice. Bag is likely to be inducted into the Cabinet since he defeated BJD president Naveen Patnaik in Kantabanji. Babu Singh, Irasis Achaharya, and Sanjali Murmu, are also being considered for ministerial roles, sources said.