Top Dignitaries Lined Up For Grand Swearing-In Ceremony Of Odisha CM

Bhubaneswar: For the first time, the swearing-in ceremony of the Chief Minister and ministers in Odisha will be a grand affair. Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to take oath as the Chief Minister for a record fifth term at 10.30 am on Wednesday (May 29) at Idco Exhibition Ground here.

Around 5,000 people are expected to attend the event, which will be held in the open for the first time during the two-decade-long Naveen rule. In 2000, 2004, 2009 and 2014, the swearing-in ceremonies were held at Raj Bhavan here.

Naveen’s elder sister and noted writer Gita Mehta and his brother Prem Patnaik feature in the long list of guests.

The special invitees include vice chairman of L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, Dr Tara Prasad Das, world-renowned liver transplant physician Dr Subrat Acharya, cardiac surgeon Dr Ramakant Panda, eminent neurosurgeon and former professor at AIIMS-New Delhi Dr Ashok Mohapatra, obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr P C Mohapatra, pediatrician and clinical scientist Dr M K Bhan, professor and consultant neurosurgeon at AIIMS-Delhi Dr Deepak Gupta.

Four among them – Das, Acharya, Panda and Bhan – are Padma awardees.

Besides, eminent architect and sculptor Padma Vibhushan Raghunath Mahapatra, Padma Shree Prafulla Kar and Odissi danseuse Priymabada Mohanty will grace the event.

This apart, top industrialists like Kumara Mangalam Birla, Nabin Jindal, ITC chairperson Sanjib Puri, Tata Steel managing director TV Narendran, Tech Mahindra managing director CP Gurnani, Mindtree chairperson KK Natarajan, Punit Dalmiya of OCL, Sangeeta Reddy of the Apollo Group and PV Venkat Ramraja of Ramco Group will attend the swearing-in ceremony.

Besides leaders of different political parties, a special invite has been sent to the Prime Minister for the swearing-in ceremony of the new government in Odisha. The invite assumes significance against the backdrop of Narendra Modi’s assertion during an election rally in Odisha that he would visit the state next only after the incumbent government is overthrown. Naveen, in his reply, had then extended an open invitation to him for the oath-taking ceremony of the new BJD government and quipped that his party had already secured a majority by three-phase polling.

BJD spokesperson Pratap Keshari Deb said major national as well as regional parties and many other personalities from different walks of life would be invited.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited. We have invited all parties, ranging from national to regional, for the oath-taking ceremony of our Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. We have extended our invitation to the winning MPs and MLAs cutting across party lines,” he said.

The grand show, party sources said, is aimed at giving a tribute to the people of Odisha and especially those who have contributed to Naveen fifth successive win. The party wants to acknowledge the support of women self-help groups and hence a good number of WSHG leaders would be attending the show.

The BJD has won 112 seats in the 147-member Assembly followed by BJP that won 23 seats and Congress with nine seats.