BHUBANESWAR: As June 10 inches closer and preparations for the first BJP government’s swearing-in get intense in Odisha, action shifted to Delhi on Friday. Sources said several MLAs have been summoned to Delhi, where the central leadership is likely to take the call on the new leader of the BJP legislature party.
Separate meetings of the MLAs and all the MPs of Odisha have reportedly been fixed with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda on Saturday over the selection of the chief minister of the BJP government, which will take oath on June 10, as announced by Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi.
All the newly-elected MPs from the state had left for Delhi on Thursday for the meeting of the NDA members held at the Central Hall of the old Parliament on the day. The BJP parliamentary board was scheduled to meet in the evening after PM-designate Modi and leaders of NDA partners met President Droupadi Murmu.
Apart from working out details of the council of ministers, sources said the BJP parliamentary board is likely to take a call on the new chief minister of Odisha. BJP state unit chief Manmohan Samal and Sambalpur MLA Jayanarayana Mishra, both members of the BJP parliamentary board, are already in the national capital.
“The meeting of the legislators in Bhubaneswar will be a mere formality, as it would be attended by two Central observers who will announce the name decided and approved by the parliamentary board of the party,” the sources said.
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan and Amit Shah had a meeting with BJP chief Nadda in Delhi.
Speaking to mediapersons in Bhubaneswar earlier in the day, newly elected MLA from Kuchinda, Rabi Narayan Nayak, said a meeting of all elected legislators of the party has been convened in the state capital on Saturday. “As announced by state president Manmohan Samal, BJP’s parliamentary board will decide on the chief minister. The BJP legislature party will approve the name decided by the parliamentary board at its meeting on Saturday,” Nayak said. Nayak is stated to have left for Delhi after the briefing of the media.
All the MPs and some MLAs who are in the national capital also had dinner at the official residence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The BJP created history by ending the 24-year-long rule of Naveen Patnaik by winning 78 Assembly seats in the 147-member Assembly and sweeping 20 out of 21 Lok Sabha seats.