Bhubaneswar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president and Union home minister Amit Shah Monday appointed Bhawanipatna MLA Pradipta Kumar Naik as the leader of the BJP’s legislature party in the State Assembly.
This will pave the way for the four-time BJP MLA to become the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the house. At the first meeting of the elected BJP MLAs, the legislators unanimously authorised Shah to make the appointment for the Cabinet rank post.
“National President Amit Shah Ji has decided the name of MLA Pradipta Kumar Naik as the leader of the legislature party in Odisha Assembly after due consultation,” state BJP in-charge Arun Singh said in a statement.
Though the name of senior BJP leader Jaynarayan Mishra was doing the round, the central leadership has not trusted him for the post. The saffron party has 23 members in the house while BJD and Congress have 111 and nine members respectively.
Naik was elected to State Assembly from a BJP ticket from Bhawanipatna seat. He was first elected to the house in 1995, then re-elected in 2000, 2004 and 2019.
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