• Marking the end of his 24-year-rule in Odisha, BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik on June 5 resigned from the post of the Chief Minister after the defeat of his party in the Assembly elections in the state.

• Patnaik handed over his resignation letter to Governor Raghubar Das at the Raj Bhavan.

• BJP stormed to power in Odisha by securing 78 of the 147 Assembly seats, while the BJD managed to win only 51 seats. Congress bagged 14 constituencies and CPI(M) secured one, while three Independent candidates also emerged victorious. The results were announced on June 4.

Second longest serving Chief Minister

• Patnaik narrowly missed the record of being the longest serving CM in the country.

• Patnaik, the five-time Chief Minister of Odisha, took charge on March 5, 2000, and held the post for 24 years.

• In 2023, he became the second longest serving Chief Minister in the country, replacing West Bengal’s Jyoti Basu.

• Basu served as the CM of West Bengal from June 21, 1977 to November 5, 2000, which was 23 years and 137 days.

• Former Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling still holds the record of being the longest serving CM in the country. He was the CM of Sikkim from December 12, 1994 till May 27, 2019 — more than 24 years.

• Patnaik is also the third leader after Chamling and Basu to become the CM of a state for five consecutive times. 

The legacy of Patnaik

• Naveen Patnaik was born on October 16, 1946 in Cuttack.

• His father Biju Patnaik was former Chief Minister of Odisha.

• Following his father’s death in 1997, Naveen Patnaik contested from his father’s seat,  Aska Parliamentary Constituency. The victory was a turning point in his life.

• Naveen Patnaik was in power since 1998 February, first as Union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Cabinet and then as the Chief Minister since March 2000.

• He broke away from Janata Dal to form a regional party named after his father — Biju Janata Dal.

• The party went on to win all the general elections in the state, first in alliance with BJP, and later on its own since 2009.

• In the 2024 Assembly elections, the BJP stormed to power in Odisha by dethroning the BJD which has been in power for the last 24 years.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store