Former Odisha Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJD) leader Naveen Patnaik has been elected leader of the 51-member BJD Legislative Party and Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, beginning a new chapter in a political career spanning 25 years.
The BJD Legislative wing, which met at the party’s state headquarters on Wednesday afternoon, unanimously elected 77-year-old Patnaik as its leader, while Lailacol MP Prasanna Acharya was elected deputy leader of the opposition in the state assembly.
Naveen Patnaik’s father, Biju Patnaik, was also elected Leader of the Opposition in 1995 after the Janata Dal lost to JB Patnaik-led Indian National Congress in the 1995 state assembly elections. Biju Patnaik served as Leader of the Opposition for a year before being elected to the Indian Lok Sabha from Aska constituency in 1996. He passed away in April 1997.
Senior MLA and former Speaker Pramila Malick has been made the Leader of the Opposition while former minister Pratap Keshari Deb has been appointed as the Deputy Leader of the Assembly.
After 24 consecutive years in power, the Naveen Patnaik government suffered a defeat in the recently concluded state assembly elections, losing to the BJP which won 78 seats. The BJD won 51. Patnaik served as the Chief Minister of Odisha for five consecutive terms from 2000 to June 2024.
Political analysts said he was left with no option but to make someone else the leader of the state Congress party as, despite his advanced age, there was no one else but the BJD who could retain the state legislator bloc and thwart the BJP’s attempts to poach or weaken the regional parties.
“Despite the defeat, Naveen Patnaik remains immensely popular and the former chief minister may use that to rally his supporters. But the party’s future depends on his health. The BJD will not be able to exploit the weaknesses of the Mohan Majhi government for at least a year as the political momentum is with the BJP,” said political analyst Ravi Das.
