Naveen Patnaik elected leader of BJD legislature party, will be Leader of Opposition in assembly

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], June 19 : Former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has been elected Leader of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Legislature Party and will be the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly.
A meeting of the newly-elected BJD MLAs was held on Wednesday. The BJD lost the assembly polls and BJP has formed its first government in the state.
Naveen Patnaik, who was Odisha Chief Minister for nearly 24 years from March 2000, said he had appointed Prasanna Acharya as the Deputy Leader of the BJD in the legislature.
"We just had a meeting of the BJD MLAs who have been elected to the recent elections. I congratulated and thanked them. They have elected me as the LoP and the leader of the Biju Legislative Party. I have also announced the new post of Prasanna Acharya as the Deputy Leader of the BJD in the legislature, Pramila Mallik as the Chief Whip and Pratap Keshari Deb as the Deputy Chief Whip of the BJD," Naveen Patnaik said.
"We had a very thorough meeting with our MLAs today where we have discusssed many matters including the recent election," he added.
Earlier last week, Mohan Charan Majhi took oath as the Chief Minister of the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Odisha, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, have been appointed Deputy Chief Ministers.
BJP secured 78 seats in the 147-seat assembly. The BJD won 51 seats and Congress won 14 seats.
Assembly polls in Odisha were held simultaneously with Lok Sabha polls.
BJP performed well in Lok Sabha polls also and won 20 out of the 21 seats. Congress won one seat.