Five-time chief minister Naveen Patnaik is set to make his debut as the leader of the opposition in the Odisha assembly. Additionally, senior Biju Janata Dal MLA Prasanna Acharya will be the deputy leader of the opposition, Pramila Mallick will be the chief whip, and Pratap Kesari Deb will be the deputy chief whip. The decision was taken at the Biju Janata Dal legislative party meeting at the BJD headquarters, Shankha Bhavan in Bhubaneswar.
Briefing the media, Odisha’s former chief minister and Hinjili MLA Naveen Patnaik said, “We have just had a meeting of the MLAs who have been elected in the recent elections of the Biju Janata Dal. I have congratulated them and thanked them. They have elected me as the leader of the opposition and the leader of the BJD legislature party. I have also announced the new posts of Prassana Acharya deputy leader of the Biju Janata Dal in the legislature, Pramila Mallick as chief whip, and Pratap Kesari Deb as deputy chief whip of the Biju Janata Dal.”
Following the debacle in the recent elections, the BJD had announced the formation of a high-level committee to go into the reasons behind the poor showing of the party in both the Lok Sabha as well as assembly polls. Questions were raised on who were the people deciding election strategies that were adopted and what were the results of the multiple surveys that the party had conducted. Patnaik said, “We had a very thorough meeting with our MLAs today where we have discussed many matters including the recent elections.”
There was speculation about whether the 78-year-old, still popular Naveen Patnaik would be the leader of the opposition, or, given his age, the BJD would let someone else take that position. However, as expected, the 51-member legislative party elected Patnaik.
Prasanna Acharya, the deputy leader elected on Wednesday, is a veteran politician and an old BJD face. “In my knowledge, for the past many decades, there has not been such a strong opposition in the Odisha assembly. This will strengthen democracy. It will ensure that the government stays on track,” he said.
Acharya was a member of Naveen Patnaik’s father Biju Patnaik’s cabinet, a former Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha lawmaker, and a member of the Odisha legislative assembly. In 2024, Acharya won from the Rairakhol assembly constituency defeating his nearest rival, BJP’s Devendra Mohapatra, by approximately 5,000 votes. Acharya, 74, has represented the western part of Odisha.
Pramila Mallick, belonging to a Scheduled Caste, is another veteran BJD leader and the first woman speaker of the Odisha legislative assembly, who was elected as the chief whip of the party. She is a seven-time MLA and former minister as well. In 2024, she won from the Bhinjharpur constituency, defeating her nearest rival, BJP’s Babita Mallick, by approximately 2,900 votes. This was her seventh straight win from Bhinjharpur.
The deputy chief whip is Pratap Keshari Deb who is also a BJD veteran and at 52 is the youngest leader among those elected on Wednesday. Apart from being an MLA, he is also a former Rajya Sabha member. In 2024, Deb won from the Aul assembly constituency, defeating his nearest rival Debasmita Shama by 19,000 votes.
The BJD, which has been struggling to explain its marked dependence on former bureaucrat and leader, Tamil Nadu-born VK Pandian, leading to a drubbing in the polls, marks a return of the veteran leaders at the helm of its affairs. Just as Biju Patnaik had become the leader of the opposition after occupying the chief minister’s chair, his son Naveen Patnaik will now do the same.
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