Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, deputy chief ministers – KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida – and BJD president Naveen Patnaik took oath as member of the 17th Odisha Legislative Assembly on Tuesday. Pro-tem Speaker Ranenda Pratap Swain administered the oath of office to the newly elected MLAs including the chief minister and Patnaik here on Tuesday.
The oath-taking by newly elected members will continue till June 19. The election for the Speaker will be held on June 20.
As per tradition, the chief minister and other newly-elected MLAs paid floral tribute at the Mahatma Gandhi statue on arriving at the Assembly. In the recently concluded Assembly elections, the BJP secured a majority by winning 78 Assembly seats followed by BJD (51), Congress (14), CPIM (1) and Independents (3). In the 147-member Odisha Assembly, as many as 82 are first-time MLAs.
While Majhi is the leader of the House, BJD president and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik is expected to be unanimously elected as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP).