Bhubaneswar, June 12: After the swearing-in of new Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi under the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen making a heartwarming gesture to former state CM and Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik.

The Prime Minister was seen speaking to the former CM. The duo was also captured sharing smiles and shaking hands.

Patnaik is one of the longest-serving Chief Ministers of any state in the country. He had made an unexpected entry into state politics through the BJD, a party named after his father, the former Odisha CM Biju Patnaik.

His political journey began with a victory in the 1998 Lok Sabha by-poll, representing his father's constituency of Aska. Following the BJD's success in the 2000 Assembly elections, forming a coalition with the BJP and gaining a majority, Patnaik resigned from his position in the Union Cabinet to assume the role of chief minister.

Since then, he has been the second longest-serving Chief Minister after Sikkim CM Pawan Kumar Chamling.

Earlier today, Mohan Charan Majhi took oath as the Chief Minister at Janata Maidan here in Odisha.

Along with Majhi, two deputy Chief Ministers -- Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and Pravati Parida were also sworn in. Pravati Parida has become the first woman deputy chief minister of the state. Eight ministers and five ministers of state (independent charge) also took the oath of office today.

Odisha Governor Raghubar Das administered the oath to the first BJP Chief Minister of the state along with the deputies.

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Naveen Patnaik, who served as chief minister of Odisha for 24 years was also present on the stage.

Apart from Prime Minister Modi, the ceremony also witnessed the presence of several high-profile leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party including -- Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Ashwini Vaishnaw and Nitin Gadkari, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were among the dignitaries who arrived in Bhubaneswar to witness the event.

This is the first BJP government in Odisha after its emphatic performance in the recently concluded assembly polls, after it defeated the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), bringing an end to the latter's 24-year-old reign.

Majhi said that protecting Odisha's 'Asmita' (pride) will be the priority of the new government.

The 52-year-old belonging to the Santali tribe hails from the state's Keonjhar district. He was elected leader of the BJP legislature party in Odisha on Tuesday.

Beginning his career as a sarpanch from 1997-2000, Majhi was elected to the state assembly for the first time in 2000 from Keonjhar. He was re-elected in 2004. From 2005 to 09, he was the government deputy chief whip in the BJD-BJP coalition government. He was again elected as an MLA in 2019. In the recent polls, Majhi retained the seat by defeating BJD's Mina Majhi by 11,577 votes.

The BJP won 78 of 147 seats in the Odisha assembly polls. (ANI)

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