Bhubaneswar: Amid the continuing suspense over new Chief Minister of Odisha, names of several prominent leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are doing the rounds for the top post.
While oath-taking of the maiden BJP government in the state is slated to be held on June 12, a section of national media also came out with reports of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India Girish Chandra Murmu being among the frontrunners for the CM post.
On the ongoing buzz over Murmu’s name for CM post in national media, senior BJP leader and party’s Odisha in-charge Vijaypal Singh Tomar said he has no knowledge about it and made it clear that everything relating to the new Chief Minister will be decided in the legislature party meeting.
“There is nothing of that sort. I have no knowledge about it. However, everything will be decided in the BJP legislature party meeting,” he said.
Notably, the BJP has appointed Rajnath Singh and Bhupender Yadav as observers for election of the leader of its 78-member legislature party in Odisha. The two Union Ministers will attend the BJP legislature party meeting to be held on Tuesday.
Consultations will be made and based on consensus, the name of the next Odisha CM will be announced by the observers.
The BJP parliamentary board, the highest decision-making body of the party, will take the final call.
There are main contenders for the CM post in Odisha. Prominent among them are MLAs-elect Suresh Pujari, K V Singh Deo and Mohan Majhi and state BJP president Manmohan Samal.
However, the power to pick the head of the government largely lies with the BJP parliamentary board, the highest decision-making body of the party. The 78-member BJP legislature party meeting, which is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, will simply put its stamp of approval on the nomination finalised by the parliamentary board, said a senior state BJP leader.
The new BJP government is scheduled to be sworn-in on June 12 at 4.45 pm. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in Bhubaneswar at 2.10 pm and proceed to Raj Bhavan from the airport. He will reach Janata Maidan later to attend the oath-taking ceremony.
The saffron party won 78 of 147 Assembly seats and swept the Lok Sabha polls, pocketing 20 of 21 seats.
