The oath-taking ceremony of the newly elected Odisha MLAs witnessed a candid moment between former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and BJP MLA Laxman Bag as they greeted each other.
The video of the incident is doing rounds on social media. In the video Bag can be seen standing up from his seat, greeting Patnaik and giving his introduction as the BJD chief was passing by. Patnaik, in return, turned and acknowledged Bag’s greeting and heartily said,” Oh you defeated me?”
Watch the video here:
Bag defeated Patnaik from the Kantabanji Assembly seat in the recently held state elections by over 16,000 votes. Though Patnaik lost from this seat, he won from Hinjili's seat.
Newly elected members of the Odisha Assembly took oath during a special session that started on Tuesday.
Pro-tem Speaker Ranendra Pratap Swain first administered the oath to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. Later, two deputy CMs -- K.V. Singh Deo and Pravati Parida -- took the oath.
The Pro-Tem Speaker also administered the oath to former CM and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) President Naveen Patnaik, who is going to play the role of opposition for the first time in his political career.
Notably, all 147 newly elected MLAs are scheduled to take the oath on June 18 and 19 while the election for the new Speaker will be held on June 20.
Speculation is rife that senior BJP leader Surama Padhi is likely to be fielded by the party as its candidate for the Speaker's post.
The BJP won 78 seats in the recently concluded Assembly polls ending the 24-year BJD rule in Odisha.
The BJD won 51 seats, Congress 14, CPI(M) three and Independents three. In the last Assembly, the BJD had 113 MLAs.
.jpg)