Mohan Charan Majhi Takes Oath As Odisha's First BJP Chief Minister

Mohan Charan Majhi won the Keonjhar Assembly seat with a margin of around 87,815 votes against BJD's Mina Majhi.

Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi Oath Ceremony: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Mohan Charan Majhi took oath as the Chief Minister of Odisha on Wednesday, succeeding Naveen Patnaik, who led the state for a record five term. Odisha Governor Raghubar Das administered the oath of office to the Keonjhar MLA in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and several other top leaders of the BJP. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also attended the oath-taking ceremony.

With the Wednesday's swearing-in, Majhi became the first BJP leader to be the CM of Odisha bringing to an end the 24-year streak of Biju Janata Dal as the ruling party in the coastal state.

Besides CM-designate Mohan Charan Majhi, Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and Pravati Parida took an oath as Odisha's Deputy Chief Ministers.

Additionally, eight BJP MLAs including Suresh Pujari, Nityanand Gond, Rabinarayan Naik, Krushna Chandra Patra, Mukesh Mahaling, Prithviraj Harichandan, Bibhuti Bhusan Jena, Krushna Chandra Mohapatra also took oath as Majhi's cabinet ministers. 

Five other MLAs including Suryabanshi Suraj,Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia, Pradeep Balasamanta, Sampad Kumar Swain, and Gokula Nanda Mallick are also likely to take oath today.

Majhi won the Keonjhar Assembly seat with a margin of around 87,815 votes against BJD's Mina Majhi. He became the MLA for the first time in 2000 and was subsequently elected as a legislator two more times in 2004 and 2019.  

BJP's tribal face in the state, Majhi served as the Secretary of the State Tribal Committee of the BJP and also as the General Secretary of BJP state ST committee. 

Outgoing CM Naveen Patnaik also attended the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected CM. Earlier today, Majhi had personally visited Patnaik at his residence to invite him to his oath-taking ceremony.

Yogi, Biswa, Dhami Attend Odisha CM Majhi's Oath-Taking 

Apart from PM Modi and former Odisha CM Patnaik, several chief ministers from across India also attended the oath-taking ceremony today. The list included Assam CM and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, and Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel, among others. 

The Odisha CM and Governor Raghubar Das had also gone to the airport to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he arrived in Bhubaneswar to attend Majhi's swearing-in ceremony.