Bhubaneswar: Mohan Majhi, the new chief minister of Odisha, started operating from the State Guest House on a temporary basis Thursday, officials said.
The Chief Minister’s Office on the third floor of the state secretariat Lok Seva Bhawan is yet to be readied.
Majhi, a prominent tribal leader representing Keonjhar in the Assembly, reached the State Guest House after returning from his visit to Puri.
He chaired official meetings on the first floor of the building, which has been made to house the CMO for the time being.
The chief minister also held discussions with senior officials of parliamentary affairs and housing and urban development departments and secretary of the Odisha Assembly.
Party sources said that the CMO in the Lok Seva Bhawan would be renovated as per the desire of the chief minister before he starts attending the office on a regular basis.
The chamber where former chief minister Naveen Patnaik used to sit, remained closed for four years since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Patnaik was operating from Naveen Niwas, his residence, sources said.
Meanwhile, the Majhi administration said reports regarding removal of the 5T (Transformation initiatives) Charter and ‘Mo Sarkar’ (my government) boards, which were introduced by the previous Biju Janata Dal (BJD) regime, were not correct.
The information, the Information and Public Relations department said, was posted on a fake Facebook account of the CM.
The CMO said in a statement that Majhi along with two Deputy Chief Ministers KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, other ministers, MLAs and MPs visited the Jagannath Temple in Puri as common devotees.
“There was no special arrangement for the CM’s visit to the temple. He offered prayer to Lord Jagannath along with other devotees,” the statement said.
The official release also said that the new chief minister mingled with the people of Suando village, the birthplace of Utakalmani Gopabandhu Das, an Odia icon.
PTI