Naveen Patnaik Takes Oath As Odisha CM For Fifth Term

Bhubaneshwar: Biju Janata Dal Party chief Naveen Patnaik took oath as the Chief Minister of Odisha for the fifth consecutive time on Wednesday. Along with him, 20 other ministers took oath here.

Patnaik was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Ganeshi Lal in a grand ceremony at the Idco Exhibition Ground here.

In the history of Indian politics, along with Patnaik only Jyoti Basu of West Bengal and Pawan Chamling of Sikkim had been the CM for five terms.

Apart from chief minister's elder brother and businessman Prem Patnaik, sister and noted writer Gita Mehta, around 7,000 dignitaries including captains of industries attended the swearing-in ceremony.

The BJD, which won 112 seats in the 147-member Assembly in the recently concluded elections, held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls, has been in power in Odisha since 2000.

In 2014 polls, BJD had bagged 117 of the 147 assembly seats and 20 of the 21 lok sabha seats.

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