Odisha’s first BJP CM, Deputy CMs to take oath today: Who are Mohan Charan Majhi, K V Singh Deo, Pravati Parida?

The BJP on Tuesday picked four-time Keonjhar MLA Mohan Charan Majhi who is from the tribal Santhal community as Odisha’s Chief Minister. Majhi will take oath along with Deputy CMs K V Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, who will become the first woman Deputy CM of the state, at the Janata Maidan in Bhubaneswar at 4.55 pm on Wednesday.

“Though I was confident that he would be chosen as a minister after the BJP won the majority, I never thought that he would become the CM. Whatever he has got is because of the blessings of Lord Jagannath. I am very proud of him,” Majhi’s wife Priyanka Marndi told reporters. They have two sons.

Majhi, 52, will become the first Odisha CM from the BJP. He has been associated with the party for a long time and is a surprise pick for the top post. He comes from Raikala in Keonjhar and was a teacher at the local Saraswati Shishu Mandir, part of a network of schools run by the RSS’s educational wing Vidya Bharti before beginning his political career as the sarpanch in 1997.

Majhi was elected to the Assembly for the first time in 2000 and was re-elected in 2004, becoming the Deputy Chief Whip in the BJD-BJP coalition government. The CM-elect failed to hold his ground in the 2009 elections after the BJD and the BJP broke their alliance following the Kandhamal riots and the BJP took a massive hit. The BJD won 103 of the 147 Assembly seats, up 42 constituencies, while the BJP finished third with a tally of six seats, down from 26.

Majhi failed to win in 2014 too but bounced back in 2019 to win a third term from Keonjhar even though the Naveen Patnaik-led party won all the remaining seats. In the district. With the BJP becoming the principal Opposition party, Majhi was appointed the party’s chief whip and he