Assembly Elections 2024: Who will be Odisha Chief Minister? All eyes on crucial BJP meeting today

After storming to power in Odisha for the first time by winning 78 of the 147 seats in the recently-concluded assembly elections, the (BJP) is all set to elect its leader on . The new Chief Minister will be sworn in on Wednesday, June 12. 

Union Defence Minister and Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, the party observers, are headed to Odisha capital for the crucial BJP Legislature Party meeting on June 11.

The BJP’s win in the was historic not just because it will be the first time in power in the state but also since it has ended the the five-term reign of the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD in the state by reducing it to just

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The BJP also bagged 20 seats out of 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The Lok Sabha and Assembly polls were held in Odisha simultaneously.

and top BJP leaders will attend the swearing-in of the party’s first CM and his ministers sheduled to be held at the Janta Maidan in Bhubaneswar on .

While the oath-taking is just a day away, hectic parleys are underway to decide the next Chief Minister of Odisha. Earlier party leaders from Odisha and were said to be frontrunners. But with both of them inducted in the Union cabinet, their candidature stands ruled out.

So the frontrunners, for now, include, Odisha BJP president , who lost the election from Chandabali Assembly seat of Odisha with less than 2000 votes. Samal told media that an Odia will be the CM after being unanimously decided in the presence of the central observers at the Legislature Party meeting on Tuesday.

Sixty-five-year old Samal has served as a minister in the BJD-BJP alliance government in the state from 2004 to 2008. Before the present term that started in March 2023, Samal was Odisha BJP