20th June 2024- Naveen Patnaik is elected as the head of the leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, marking a new chapter in his over two-decade-long political career.
The BJD legislature party convened at the party’s state headquarters on Wednesday afternoon, unanimously electing the 77-year-old Naveen Patnaik as the leader. Rairakhol MLA Prasanna Acharya was elected as the deputy leader of the Opposition.
Naveen Patnaik follows in the footsteps of his father, Biju Patnaik, who was elected leader of the Opposition in 1995 after the Janata Dal’s defeat to the Congress-led by JB Patnaik. Senior MLA and former Speaker Pramila Mallick was appointed as the Opposition chief whip, while former minister Pratap Keshari Deb was named as the deputy chief whip in the Assembly.
After 24 years in power, the Naveen Patnaik government was defeated in the recent assembly polls, with the BJP winning 78 seats compared to BJD’s 51 seats. Patnaik, who served as Chief Minister for five consecutive terms from 2000 to June 2024, remains highly popular and is expected to leverage this support to maintain party unity.
+ There are no comments
Add yours