Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has invited Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi for the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister-elect Naveen Patnaik.
This apart, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, all MPs and MLAs from the State, representatives of various organisations like women SHGs, teachers, farmers, have also invited to attend swearing-in ceremony, said sources in the BJD.
Nearly, 5,000 people would present at oath-taking event to be held at 10.30 am at the IDCO Exhibition Ground in Unit-III here.
Notably, during an election rally at Basta, under Balasore Lok Sabha constituency, Patnaik, who happens to be the BJD president, had quipped that he would invite Modi to attend his oath-taking ceremony. Patnaik was responding to Modi’s attack on him, during which he said he would visit Odisha after the Naveen Government has been dislodged from power after the election.
Meanwhile, Patnaik and Modi had congratulated each other on the day the election results were announced.
Patnaik will take oath as the CM of the State for a record fifth consecutive time. He has been the Chief Minister of the State since 2000.
For the first time, swearing-in event would be organised outside the Raj Bhavan.
Patnaik’s BJD has emerged a clear winner, bagging 112 in the 147-member Assembly. In the outgoing Assembly, the regional party had 117 seats. The regional party too was victorious in 12 parliamentary constituencies against the 20 in 2014. BJP won eight seats while Congress was confined to one seat only.
