Setting record tenures, Navin Patnaik will be sworn-in as Odisha Chief Minister today for the fourth time in a row, and Pawan Chamling as Sikkim Chief Minister for the fifth straight time.
Naveen Patnaik led BJD to a landslide victory in the just concluded assembly elections in the state. It won 117 of the 147 seats in the state assembly. Our Bhubaneswar correspondent reports that 21 council of ministers will also be sworn-in today. He adds that the Raj Bhavan of Odisha is all set to conduct the swearing-in ceremony of the new council of ministers led by chief minister-designate Naveen Patnaik at about 10 this morning. The swearing-in ceremony will be held at a makeshift air-conditioned hall fitted with LED television sets in view of the sizzling heat wave conditions. An estimated 3,000 guests, including VVIPs, have been invited to the ceremony, for which heavy security arrangements have been put in place by the police. A large group of common people are also expected to turn up to witness the ceremony of oath-taking for whom LED screens have been set up outside the Raj Bhawan. Naveen Patnaik, who continues to be chief minister of the state since 5th of March 2000, is all set to make a record in the political history of Odisha for being the only chief minister to rule for four consecutive terms.
The Sikkim Democratic Front led by Pawan Chamling won the Assembly polls by a two-third majority with 22 of its MLAs being elected to the 32-member House. Our correspondent reports that Pawan Chamling will take oath as the Chief Minister for a record fifth term today. Governor Sriniwas Patil will administer the oath of office to the chief minister and his council of ministers. The swearing-in-ceremony will take place at Raj Bhawan, in Gangtok. Our correspondent adds that the ruling Sikim Democratic Front (SDF) President Pawan Chamling who won a record mandate for the fifth time in Since December 12, 1994, has already completed two uninterrupted decades as the chief minister of Sikkim. After this swearing-in, he will be on his way to surpass the record of former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu of being the longest serving chief minister of the country. Expressing his gratitude to the people of Sikkim for their unconditional support which gave the SDF party a resounding victory in the elections, Chief Minister Pawan Chamling on Monday said that he will work with renewed vigour for development of the state and its people. He stressed that his party victory has infused a new direction and given continuity to the ongoing mission of Sikkim Nirman.