As Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik submitted his resignation to Governor Raghubar Das on Wednesday after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) brought an end to his 24-year-old rule by defeating the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the just-concluded assembly polls, speculation began over the next chief minister of the state.
Patnaik went to Raj Bhawan this morning and handed over his resignation to Das. Later in the evening, he called a meeting of the 50 newly elected MLAs of the party.
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Meanwhile, state BJP president Manmohan Samal said the party’s Parliamentary Board will take a decision on CM in the next one or two days. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier announced the date for the oath-taking ceremony for the party’s CM on June 10. “The selection of CM candidate will be based on the criteria set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi- an Odia son or daughter who will uphold the culture and tradition will be the next Chief Minister,” said Samal.
From the party headquarters in Bhubaneswar to the national headquarters in New Delhi, several names are doing the rounds. Former Union tribal minister Jual Oram, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra and party’s national vice-president Baijayant Panda are in the race for the top post. However, all four have been elected as MPs in the current Lok Sabha elections.
Former Union tribal minister Jual Oram is among those whose names have been discussed ever since the results came in. The 63-year-old Oram is a five-time MP as well as one-time MLA and has been one of the earliest members of the BJP in the state. Born in a poor tribal family of Sundargarh, Oram a diploma holder in electrical engineering, worked for five years with BHEL, before he quit his job to join politics. Oram was made the first Union tribal affairs minister in October 1999, when the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee created the ministry.
Oram said he does not aspire to be the chief minister but wouldn’t turn down the job if offered. “If I am entrusted with the job, I will faithfully discharge my duties as the chief minister. There are plenty of other capable leaders in our party who could be considered for the CM’s post. However, we will abide by whatever our party leadership decides,” said Oram.
Union education minister and Sambalpur MP Dharmendra Pradhan’s name is also being discussed as he was the one who spearheaded the BJP campaign of Odia Asmita (Odia pride). With 10 years as Union petroleum minister and education minister, party leaders said Pradhan has an edge over others in the CM race. Pradhan started his career in politics after being elected as an MLA in 2000. In 2004, he was elected as a Lok Sabha MP from Deogarh in Odisha. In 2009, he lost from Pallahara assembly seat. After that he was elected to Rajya Sabha from Bihar and then from Madhya Pradesh. He has also worked as an election in-charge in Bihar and as an in-charge of party affairs in Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Odisha.
“As the party needs a seasoned and experienced man to helm the state, Pradhan is a top contender due to his administrative experience,” a party leader said.
The other names being considered are Sambit Patra, BJP national spokesperson and the newly-elected MP from Puri.
An MBBS from VSS Medical College and Hospital in Burla town of Sambalpur district and Master of Surgery from SCB Medical College, Cuttack, the 50-year-old Patra worked as a doctor in Delhi’s Hindu Rao Hospital. In 2012, he became the spokesman for Delhi BJP and was the party candidate for the Kashmere Gate ward in the municipal council of Delhi elections. He lost that election but caught the attention of the then Union minister Arun Jaitley in 2014, who made him national spokesman. Since then, he has been BJP’s most vocal face on the TV channels. Last month, his gaffe on Lord Jagannath seriously threatened to undermine his campaign as critics accused him of demeaning the faith of crores of Jagannatha bhaktas and Odias across the world.
Baijayant Panda, BJP’s national vice-president, is also an eminent candidate for the post. A graduate of Michigan Technological University with a background in Engineering and Management, Panda had a successful corporate career before entering politics. A one-time Rajya Sabha MP and two-time Lok Sabha MP from BJD, Panda joined BJP six years ago and contested from Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat in 2019 where he lost. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, he defeated BJD’s Anshuman Mohanty by 66,536 votes. He is among the few leaders who has the solid backing of top RSS leaders and is considered as one of the frontrunners.
The other name that is being considered are Girish Chandra Murmu, retired 1985 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, who currently is the external auditor of the World Health Organization (WHO). He hails from Betnoti in Mayurbhanj district. Earlier, he was the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India and lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir. The 65-year-old career bureaucrat was principal secretary in Modi’s CMO and held several important positions in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government at the Centre. Known for his ability to “get things done”, some in BJP say he could be the best bet to head the state where the bureaucrats, of late, have been facing flak.
