Bhubaneswar: Odisha CM-designate Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday said that his first job after taking the oath is to work to protect the ‘Asmita’ (pride) of the state.
The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled to be held at Janata Maidan at 4.45 pm. Two deputy chief ministers – first-time MLA Pravati Parida and six-time legislator KV Singhdeo – will also take oath.
It was ‘Odia Asmita’ poll plank that helped the BJP to pull off a surprise in Odisha in the Assembly elections and dethrone the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government after 24 years. The saffron party secured a majority by winning 78 of 147 Assembly seats.
Majhi, a tribal leader and MLA-elect from Keonjhar, further said that the first double-engine government in the state will work for fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantees as mentioned in its Sanklap Patra. “This government is of the poor and for the poor. Under PM Modi’s guarantee, our government is committed to ending abject poverty in the state and focusing on fulfilling their basic needs of the poor. We will implement certain programmes for 100 days first after coming to power and monitor their progress,” he told the media.
Earlier in the day, Majhi along with his Deputy CM-designates paid floral tributes to Sriram Chandra Bhanj Deo, ‘Utkalamani’ Gopabandhu Das, Parala Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati and Ramachandra Mardaraj Deo in Bhubaneswar.
They also met members of Santal community at Maitri Vihar and were welcomed in their traditional way by washing their feet. “…I was welcomed by them ( members of a tribal community) as per the tradition. We have not left behind our traditions,” Majhi said.
The 52-year-old belongs to the Santhal tribal community and is the only be third tribal CM after Congress’s late Hemananda Biswal and Giridhar Gamang, both of who had shorter tenures.
Speaking to media, KV also said that the BJP government will start the work from ‘point zero’ and the government will start working to fulfil its promises soon after swearing in. “PM Modi has also said that Odisha will become the number 1 state in the next 5 years. The moment we finish our oath; we will start working on the promises made to the people through our election manifesto,” he told ANI.
Besides PM, 3 central ministers and nine CMs of BJP-ruled states are likely to attend the oath-taking ceremony.
“We have made the security arrangements for the movement of the CM designate. Wherever he plans to go, local police stations of all the places have been alerted… We have given dedicated security and cavalcade arrangements for all the VIPs. The control room is monitoring their movement… Till now we have engaged around 70 platoon forces for the entire arrangement and everything is moving smoothly,” Bhubaneshwar DCP Prateek Singh said.
