Swearing-in of new BJP govt in Odisha to be held on June 10: Party officials

Bhubaneshwar: The swearing-in ceremony of the first-ever Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Odisha will be held on June 10 in Bhubaneswar’s Janata Maidan, senior leaders of the party said on Thursday.
BJP leader and spokesperson Sajjan Sharma said the swearing-in ceremony will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, along with chief ministers of several National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-ruled states who campaigned for the party in the election.
During campaigning, PM Modi and other BJP leaders had announced that if BJP formed the government in the state, it would be sworn in on June 10.
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The BJP won 78 seats in the Odisha Assembly elections, while two rebels of the party who contested as independents and won have decided to join the party, raising the strength to 80 in the 147-member Odisha Assembly.
The BJP won a little over 40 per cent of the total votes, a rise of nearly eight per cent from what it had secured in 2019.
The BJP leaders said the central leadership would send its top leaders to Odisha in the next two to three days to speak to the MLAs to decide the next chief minister.
Several names that are being considered for the CM’s post include former Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, party’s national vice-president Baijayant Panda, senior leader Suresh Pujari, Puri MP Sambit Patra, former union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram and former chief whip Mohan Majhi.
Pradhan won from Odisha’s Sambalpur seat, where he was contesting against Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das. He received 5,92,162 votes, winning with a margin of 1,19,836 votes.
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According to party officials, the state government has decided to employ 50 senior officers, including nine IAS, one Odisha Finance Service (OFS) and 40 other senior Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officers, to supervise the swearing-in ceremony of the new ministry. 
Party officials said that in the first cabinet meeting of the BJP government, the opening of all four doors of Jagannath temple in Puri, the tabling of the Raghubir Das judicial commission of inquiry report into the disappearance of keys of Ratna Bhandar, the announcement of minimum support price Rs.3,100 per quintal for purchase of paddy is likely to be announced. BJP had made these promises in its manifesto.