Mohan Charan Majhi took the oath as chief minister of Odisha’s first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on 12 June.
Key points
- The oath-taking ceremony was held at Janata Maidan in Bhubaneshwar. Along with Majhi, two deputy chief ministers – Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and Pravati Parida – were also sworn in.
- Odisha Governor Raghubar Das administered the oath to the first BJP Chief Minister of the state along with his deputies.
- Pravati Parida has become the first woman deputy chief minister of the state.
- The 52-year-old Majhi belongs to the Santali tribe and hails from the state’s Keonjhar district. Majhi began his political career as a sarpanch from 1997 to 2000.
- This is the first BJP government in Odisha after its emphatic performance in the recently concluded assembly polls, in which it defeated the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), ending its 24-year rule.
- The BJP won 78 of the 147 seats in the Odisha assembly polls.
