Bhubaneswar: Having won 78 seats in the 147-member Odisha Assembly, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is all set to form its maiden government in the state. As per the announcement made by the saffron party, the new BJP Chief Minister is slated to be sworn-in on June 10.
However, the most important question now is who will be the CM of this BJP’s full-majority government. While the names of several leaders are doing the round, all the 20 newly-elected BJP Lok Sabha members are scheduled to meet the top leadership of the party in New Delhi on Thursday evening.
While Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who was elected from Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency, is already in New Delhi, the rest are proceeding to the national capital for the crucial meeting. They are likely to discuss issues relating to the formation of government with the top brass of the party.
The newly-elected MPs are expected to express their views regarding government formation in the state. The meeting assumes significance as the process of selection of Chief Minister for Odisha has now been initiated. The central leadership of BJP is likely to obtain the opinions of the newly elected party MPs on the issue.
The parliamentary board of BJP is scheduled to meet after the central leaders hold discussion with party MPs from the state. Therefore, the focus will be on selection of the CM candidate. All the elected BJP MPs have vast political experience. BJP has won 20 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The new MPS include heavyweight leaders like Dharmendra Pradhan, Baijayant Panda, Aparajita Sarangi and Pratap Sarangi.
The saffron party fought the elections in Odisha under the leadership of Narendra Modi without projecting a CM candidate. During his election rallies, Modi had said that the party will pick the CM candidate, who will be a ‘Bhoomiputra’, on June 6 and s/he will be sworn in as the CM in Bhubaneswar on June 10.
The party’s emphatic victory has led to a lot of speculation about the likely CM with Dharmendra Pradhan, who won the MP seat from Sambalpur, emerging as a frontrunner among the heavyweight leaders from the state.
Names of several other heavyweight leaders are also doing the rounds. Among them is Suresh Pujari, who won his first Assembly poll from Brajarajnagar. He had earlier served as the state BJP president and was also an MP from Bargarh.
Jayanarayan Mishra, who retained his Sambalpur seat, is reportedly in contention too and so also K V Singh Deo, who won from Patnagarh. After five wins in a row, KV conceded defeat in the 2019 elections from Patnagarh to Saroj Kumar Meher of BJD, but avenged the loss in 2024.
The BJP might also spring a surprise as it did in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh by announcing CMs, whose names had not been anticipated by political experts. Amid this speculation, Comptroller and Auditor General of India Girish Chandra Murmu has emerged as a prospective candidate for the party’s CM pick for Odisha. A native of Betnoti in Mayurbhanj district, he is a retired 1985-batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre who served as the principal secretary to Modi during his tenure as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. He was also the first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu & Kashmir.
Despite losing the Assembly polls from Chandabali, state BJP president Manmohan Samal can also be rewarded for playing a pivotal role in the party’s victory in Odisha.
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