BHUBANESWAR: A candid and light-hearted encounter between former chief minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik and first-time BJP MLA Laxman Bag, who defeated him in the Kantabanji seat in the just-concluded elections, during the oath-taking ceremony of newly-elected MLAs in the Assembly has become the talk of the town.
All eyes were on the former chief minister while he was taking oath in the House. After taking oath, the former chief minister was proceeding towards his seat on the Opposition benches when he came face to face with Bag on the Treasury side. Bag stood up with folded hands and introduced himself. “Namaskar, I am Laxman Bag, Kantabanji MLA” the BJP MLA said.
Naveen also greeted him with a smile and said, “Oh! You defeated me.” The former chief minister was not familiar with Bag as he is a first-time MLA. Bag defeated Naveen by margin of 16,344 votes in the Kantabanji seat this time. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, deputy chief ministers KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida along with ministers and MLAs also rose from their seats to greet Naveen as he walked past them. The former CM also greeted all the BJP members who were present in the House. ENS