Bhubaneswar, June 19: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday appointed party president and former Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik as the leader of its Legislative Party in the Odisha Assembly, to hold the post of Leader of Opposition in the State after the party lost in the recently concluded assembly polls. 

The newly elected BJD MLAs convened a meeting, chaired by BJD president Naveen Patnaik, at the party office Sankha Bhawan here this evening to elect the leader of BJD Legislature Party.

Speaking to reporters, Patnaik said he would be the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly.

"We had a meeting of the MLAs of the BJD. I congratulated and thanked them. They have elected me as the leader of the opposition and leader of the BJD legislature party," he said.

Rairakhol MLA Prasanna Acharya has been named the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, while former Speaker Pramila Mallik will be the chief whip of the Opposition in the House.

Patnaik named Aul MLA Pratap Keshari Deb as the deputy chief whip of the Opposition in the assembly.

BJD chief Naveen Patnaik served as the CM of Odisha five consecutive times from 2000 until June 2024.

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.

Read More: Odisha News