Bhubaneswar: A couple of days after the unforeseen defeat of Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal in recently concluded Odisha Assembly polls, two retired IAS officers Suresh Chandra Mahapatra and R Balakrishnan resigned as Chief Advisors to Chief Minister’s Office and Special Initiatives.
The resignations of the two key bureaucrats came to the fore after the General Administration and Public Grievance Department Thursday issued an office order dated June 5 regarding the acceptance of the resignations.
Following the announcement of election results June 4, Naveen Patnaik submitted his resignation as Chief Minister of Odisha to Governor Raghubar Das. As per the norms, the Governor requested Patnaik to remain in charge as the caretaker Chief Minister until a new government is sworn in.
It can be mentioned here that, the Biju Janata Dal faced a shocking defeat at the hands of the BJP as the saffron party rose to power in Odisha by winning 78 Assembly seats which comfortably surpasses the magic number of 74 in a 147-member Assembly.
The BJD was able to secure 51 Assembly seats while the Congress won 14 seats.
PNN