Naveen Patnaik comes face to face with man who defeated him in assembly polls
Forty-eight-year-old Laxman Bag defeated five-term chief minister Naveen Patnaik by over 16,000 votes from Kantabanji seat in Odisha
Former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik came face to face with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Laxman Bag, who defeated him in the recently concluded assembly elections from Kantabanji seat, on Tuesday, amid the oath-taking ceremony of the newly elected MLAs in the State Assembly.
Forty-eight-year-old Bag defeated five-term chief minister Patnaik by over 16,000 votes. Patnaik, however managed to win in Hinjili assembly seat by a little over 4,600 votes.
As Patnaik entered the Assembly for taking oath, Bag stood up and introduced himself. “Oh You defeated me,” Patnaik remarked while extending his wishes. Patnaik is likely to be elected as the chief of the 51-member Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Legislature Party in its meeting on Wednesday. He will be playing the role of opposition leader for the first time in his political career.
Bag, who worked as a daily wage labourer and even assisted a truck driver for livelihood, pooled all his resources and made labour migration, the major issue in Kantabanji, to target the BJD government.
Pro-tem Speaker Ranendra Pratap Swain first administered the oath to chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi and other members including Patnaik. Two deputy CMs -- K.V. Singh Deo and Pravati Parida -- also took oath.
All the 147 newly elected MLAs are scheduled to take oath by June 19 while the election for the new Speaker will be held on June 20. Senior BJP leader and former minister Surama Padhi is likely to be fielded by the party as its candidate for the Speaker’s post. The BJP won 78 of total 147 seats in the recently concluded Assembly polls.