The Odisha BJP is expected to select the next chief minister after Narendra Modi's oath as Prime Minister, according to the BJP state unit chief.
Following Narendra Modi's swearing-in as the country's prime minister for a third term on Sunday, the BJP's parliamentary party is anticipated to choose the chief minister of Odisha, a leader from the saffron camp indicated.
After returning from New Delhi on Saturday, Odisha BJP chief Manmohan Samal stated, "Wait for two more days."
The BJP secured a majority in the elections by winning 78 out of the 147 seats in the Odisha assembly.
Samal mentioned that the parliamentary party of the BJP would select the chief minister during its meeting, but he added that he does "not have any idea about the next chief minister of the state."
"I had gone to Delhi to attend a meeting to select the NDA’s parliamentary party leader and Lok Sabha leader. All newly elected MPs from the state were present there. We also attended other party programs arranged in Delhi," he said at the airport.
The BJP won 20 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha.
Samal also noted that, as the president of the Odisha BJP, he has been coordinating with all stakeholders in preparation for the oath-taking ceremony.
He asserted that the BJP's parliamentary party has yet to select the next Odisha CM.
When pressed by reporters, he said, "Wait for two more days and you will be informed about the party's decision on the new chief minister. There are highly experienced leaders of the party at the Centre, and they will take the decision keeping the interest of the state in mind."
When asked if he was a candidate for the chief minister’s post, Samal replied, "I am not...I am just executing whatever responsibility is assigned to me." Samal was defeated in Chandbali in the recently concluded Odisha assembly elections.
Names circulating for the chief minister position include Sambalpur MP and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Samal, former state BJP president and newly elected MLA from Patnagarh KV Singh Deo, and tribal leader Mohan Majhi, who was elected from the Keonjhar seat.
Pradhan is considered the BJP’s prominent face in the state and belongs to the OBC category, while Singh Deo is a five-time legislator who served as a minister in Naveen Patnaik's cabinet for nine years between 2000 and 2009 during the BJD-BJP coalition government.
Although Samal lost in the assembly polls, his supporters pointed out that Pushkar Singh Dhami also lost the assembly election in Uttarakhand but was still chosen as the CM.
During the election campaign in the state, Modi had promised that the party would make a "bhumi putra (son of the soil)" the chief minister of Odisha.
