New Delhi [India], June 12 (ANI): Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in, Telugu Desam Party chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Mohan Charan Majhi took oath as the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha respectively today in the presence of the Prime Minister.
PM Modi was present at both events along with prominent party leaders including Union Home Ministers Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari and JP Nadda, who is also BJP chief.
The oath-taking ceremony of Chandrababu Naidu took place at around 11.27 a.m. in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada while that of Mohan Charan Majhi was held at around 5 pm at Janata Maidan in Bhubaneshwar.
After taking oath as Chief Minister, Naidu hugged PM Modi on the stage.
This is the fourth time Naidu has assumed charge as Andhra Chief Minister and the second time after the bi-furcation in 2014.
Naidu became chief minister first in 1995, before the Andhra bifurcation and he led the state until 2004 for nine consecutive years. The TDP supremo returned as the chief minister of the bifurcated Andhra in 2014 and served until 2019.
Andhra Governor S Abdul Nazeer and former Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundarajan were present at the swearing-in.
Naidu’s son and TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh, Union Minister Rammohan Naidu, actors Chiranjeevi, Rajnikanth, and Nandamuri Balakrishna were also present on the occasion.
Naidu had led the TDP-BJP-Janasena National Democratic Alliance to a landslide victory in the Assembly as well as parliamentary elections.
The TDP holds the majority in Andhra Pradesh’s 175-member assembly with 135 MLAs, while its allies, the Janasena Party, has 21 and the BJP has eight. The opposition YSR Congress Party has 11 legislators.
As per a list released by the TDP, the Cabinet has 21 MLAs from the TDP, three from the Janasena Party and one from the BJP.
The TDP MLAs who were sworn in include Nara Lokesh, Kinjarapu Atchannaidu, Nimmala Ramanaidu, NMD Farooq, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Payyavula Kesav, Kollu Ravindra, Ponguru Narayana, Vangalapudi Anita, Anagani Satya Prasad, Kolusu Parthasaradhi, Kola Balaveeranjaneya Swamy, Gottipati Ravi, Gummadi Sandhyarani, BC Janardhan Reddy, TG Bharath, S Savitha, Vasamsetty Subhash, Kondapalli Srinivas and Mandipalli Ramprasad Reddy.
Konidela Pawan Kalyan, Nadendla Manohar and Kandula Durgesh took oath as ministers representing the Janasena Party, while Satya Kumar Yadav is the lone MLA from BJP who was sworn in today as minister in the Naidu cabinet.
Later in the day, the Prime Minister congratulated the newly elected Chief Minister of the state through a post on social media.
“I attended the swearing-in ceremony of the new government of Andhra Pradesh. Congratulations to Shri @ncbn on becoming the Chief Minister, and also to all those sworn in as Ministers in the Govt. @JaiTDP, @JanaSenaParty and @BJP4Andhra. Government is fully committed to take AP to new heights of glory and fulfil the aspirations of the youth of the state”, said the PM in a post on ‘X’.
Union Ministers Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Nitin Gadkari, Rammohan Naidu and Chirag Paswan among others, were present at the event.
Former Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, NCP (Ajit Pawar) leader Praful Patel, former Tamil Nadu CM O Panneerselvam, actors Chiranjeevi, Rajnikanth, Nandamuri Balakrishna, and Ram Charan were also present.
In Odisha, CM Mohan Charan Majhi along with two deputies, Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, were also sworn in. Pravati Parida has become the first woman deputy chief minister of the state. Eight ministers and five ministers of state (independent charge) also took oath of office today in the presence of PM Modi.
Odisha Governor Raghubar Das administered the oath to the first BJP Chief Minister of the state along with the deputies.
Biju Janata Dal leader Naveen Patnaik, who served as chief minister of Odisha for 24 years was also present on the stage.
The ceremony also witnessed the presence of several high-profile leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Ashwini Vaishnaw and Nitin Gadkari, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who arrived in Bhubaneswar to witness the event.
Prime Minister Modi also extended greetings to the newly sworn in Chief Minister and his deputies in Odisha.
“It’s a historic day in Odisha! With the blessings of my sisters and brothers of Odisha, @BJP4Odisha is forming its first-ever government in the state. I attended the swearing-in ceremony in Bhubaneswar. Congratulations to Shri Mohan Charan Majhi on taking oath as CM and to Shri Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo as well as Smt. Pravati Parida on taking oath as Deputy CMs. Congratulations also to the others who took oath as Ministers. With the blessings of Mahaprabhu Jagannath, I am confident this team will usher in record development in Odisha and improve the lives of countless people”, said the Prime Minister in a post on ‘X.
The Prime Minister was also captured making a heartwarming gesture to former Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik on the stage. The duo was seen sharing smiles and shaking hands.
Patnaik is one of the longest-serving Chief Ministers of any state in the country. He had made an unexpected entry into state politics through the BJD, a party named after his father, the former Odisha CM Biju Patnaik.
His political journey began with a victory in the 1998 Lok Sabha by-poll, representing his father’s constituency of Aska. Following the BJD’s success in the 2000 Assembly elections, forming a coalition with the BJP and gaining a majority, Patnaik resigned from his position in the Union Cabinet to assume the role of chief minister.
Since then, he has been the second longest-serving Chief Minister after Sikkim CM Pawan Kumar Chamling.
Meanwhile, Mukesh Mahaling, who took oath as Odisha minister, affirmed that whatever was promised during the polls will be fulfilled.
“We would like to thank the people…We would also like to assure them that under Modi ki Guarantee, whatever was promised during elections, will be fulfilled…All the members of the cabinet are going in for a cabinet meeting this evening. You will see that whatever we say, we do”, Mahaling told reporters.
Soon after swearing in as minister under the Majhi-led cabinet in the state, Prithviraj Harichandan said that the government would not “take rest” for the next five years.
“We have to fulfil the promises made by the BJP to the people of Odisha – as part of Modi ki Guarantee. Political willpower is needed for that and BJP is starting that from today itself. We are starting the work from today regarding the commitments made in the manifesto. We will not rest these 5 years…The dream of ‘Sampoorn Viksit Odisha’ that has been seen by every person in Odisha will be realised by doing whatever is needed”, Harichandan said while speaking to reporters.
Meanwhile, Odisha minister Suryabanshi Suraj expressed gratitude to the people of Odisha for having elected the BJP government.
“First of all, I would like to express gratitude to the common people of Odisha who blessed the BJP and gave us the majority to form government in the state. I also expressed gratitude to Lord Jagannath – without His blessings this would not have been possible. I also express gratitude to the BJP leadership who placed their trust in me. This is not a post but a responsibility. What we mentioned in the Sankalp Patra and promised the people of Odisha…may Lord Jagannath provide us with the strength to fulfil all of that”, Suraj said.
Suresh Pujari, who was also inducted into the cabinet of CM Majhi, thanked the party leadership and PM Narendra Modi.
“Odisha minister Suresh Pujari says, “I would like to thank the party, central leadership and PM Narendra Modi. We have blessings of everyone, of the people in Odisha as well. We have received the opportunity to serve the people of Odisha. We will leave no stone unturned, we will work 24/7 as ‘mahasevak’ in the service of people…” Majhi told reporters.
This is the first BJP government in Odisha after its emphatic performance in the recently concluded assembly polls, after it defeated the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), bringing an end to the latter’s 24-year-old reign.
The 52-year-old belonging to the Santali tribe hails from the state’s Keonjhar district. He was elected leader of the BJP legislature party in Odisha on Tuesday.
Beginning his career as a sarpanch from 1997-2000, Majhi was elected to the state assembly for the first time in 2000 from Keonjhar. He was re-elected in 2004. From 2005 to 09, he was the government deputy chief whip in the BJD-BJP coalition government. He was again elected as an MLA in 2019. In the recent polls, Majhi retained the seat by defeating BJD’s Mina Majhi by 11,577 votes.
The BJP won 78 of 147 seats in the Odisha assembly polls. (ANI)
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