Bhubaneswar: As Naveen Patnaik will take oath as the Chief Minister of Odisha for the fifth consecutive term, members of women self-help groups (WSHGs) are keen to attend the much-awaited swearing-in ceremony to be held in an open space instead of Raj Bhavan.
The WSHGs members from different parts of the State on Saturday met the Odisha’s longest serving Chief Minister here to congratulate him for his party Biju Janata Dal’s huge victory in the recent elections.
The members of Mahila Vikas Samabaya Nigam, a WSHG formed under the Odisha Government’s Mission Shakti programme for implementation of different schemes for income generation and skill up gradation for women, have shown their eagerness to attend the CM’s swearing-in ceremony on May 29.
The group members from Nayagarh, Khurda, Puri, Kendrapara and Cuttack met the CM to convey their wishes on his victory and expressed their interest to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the BJD goverement.
Naveen, who always campaigns for political empowerment of women, has set good example in national politics this election season when he ensured 33 per cent of party tickets to women candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.
One of the prominent WSHG members Pramila Bisoi has been elected from Aska Lok Sabha winning the election by a staggering margin of 2,04,707 votes.
It is for the first time that the sworn-in ceremony of the BJD, which will form the government for the fifth consecutive term after registering a landslide victory in the Assembly elections, will be organized outside the Raj Bhavan in order to enable common people to attend the ceremony.
The sworn-in ceremony of Naveen Patnaik will be held at the Idco Exhibition Ground in the state capital, sources said.