BJP Odisha legislature party to meet on Tuesday to choose CM

Bhubaneswar: The BJP legislature party of Odisha will hold a meeting on Tuesday to elect the chief minister of the state and the new government will take oath the next day, a senior party leader said.

The BJP on June 4 secured a majority by winning 78 seats in the 147-member Odisha Assembly. However, the party is yet to choose a leader who will be at the helm of the state.

While the chance of senior Odisha MP Dharmendra Pradhan becoming the next chief minister of the state seems bleak after his induction into the Modi 3.0 government, the focus is now on Brajarajnagar MLA-elect Suresh Pujari, who returned from New Delhi on Monday.

Vijay Pal Singh Tomar, the BJP's Odisha in-charge, said, "The legislature party meeting will be held on Tuesday and the new government will take oath on June 12."

“Experienced leaders led by newly-appointed observers Rajnath Singh and Bhupender Yadav will hold a discussion with the legislators,” Pujari told reporters.

The BJP has appointed Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Bhupendra Yadav to oversee the selection of the new chief minister of Odisha, a senior leader said on Monday.

Besides Pujari, state BJP president Manmohan Samal, KV Singh and Mohan Majhi are also in the race for the chief minister's post.

However, the BJP leadership might also spring a surprise as it had done in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh by announcing CMs, whose names had not been anticipated by political experts, a senior leader said recently.

The party has proposed to conduct a road show of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the state capital before the swearing-in ceremony on June 12.

The BJP also bagged 20 of 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state.