Bhubaneswar: Naveen Patnaik resigns from the post of Chief Minister of Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday submitted his resignation to Governor Raghubar Das after the party’s defeat in the assembly elections. CM Patnaik will sit on the opposition benches for the first time in his more than two-decade-long political career. The outgoing CM went to the Governor’s house with a convoy in the morning and submitted his resignation. Senior party leaders including V.K. Pandian, Pranab Prakash Das, Arun Sahu, Debi Mishra and Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak also held a meeting at Patnaik’s residence to discuss the party’s future strategy.

Author-turned-politician Patnaik was first sworn in as Odisha chief minister on March 5, 2000, when his party came to power riding on the popularity of his father and former CM Biju Patnaik. Naveen Patnaik will leave the CM’s chair after 24 years of his rule. His dream of becoming the longest-serving chief minister in the country for the sixth time was shattered due to a strong anti-incumbency wave against his government. The BJD managed to win only 51 seats this time as compared to the 112 seats it won in the 2019 assembly elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party wrested power from the BJD by winning 78 seats out of the 147-member assembly.