Riding on a landslide victory in the Assembly election notwithstanding the countrywide Modi wave, BJD supremo and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has entered into the exclusively political club of six chief Ministers in the country to assume power for five times.
The others who had already achieved the distinction of becoming chief minister for five times in the past are Pawan Kumar Chamling (Sikkim), Jyoti Basu (West Bengal), Gegong Apang (Arunachal Pradesh), Lal Thanhawla (Mizoram) and Virbhadra Singh (Himachal Pradesh).
Among these five former chief ministers, Mr Pawan Kumar Chamling has the longest serving period of 24 years five months and five days followed by former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu with 23 years four months and 17 days.
If the BJD supremo who had already served 19 years as Chief Minister of Odisha served another full five year term in his fifth term, he would be equated with the former Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling of completing 24 years in office as Chief Minister in the country.
Mr Patnaik repeated the history of 2014 elections when the BJD under his leadership captured 112 Assembly seats in the just concluded Assembly elections in Odisha, five short of what the party garnered in 2014 Assembly elections.
For the two consecutive terms, the BJD led by Mr Naveen Patnaik withstood the countrywide Modi wave and returned to power with landslide victory in the Assembly, setting a new record in the political scenario of the country.
Even his legendary father late Biju Patnaik, on whose name the BJD was floated after his demise, could not achieve the distinction of what his son has achieved today.
Acclaimed as best Chief minister of the country and also best administrator, Mr Patnaik has proved himself as the unchallenged leader in the state by winning five assembly elections in a row with a very comfortable position.
In 2000 Assembly election, the BJD-BJP alliance came to power in the state with the BJD capturing 68 seats and the BJP 26 seats. In the subsequent election, the BJD garnered 61 seats and the BJP 38 seats.
But 2009, Mr Patnaik snapped the relationship with the BJP, decided to go alone and captured the power with 103 seats in the 147 Assembly.
In 2014, when the Modi wave swept the whole country, Mr Patnaik, successfully managed to check the wave and the BJD won 20 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats, leaving one seat to the BJP.
And in Assembly also the BJD returned for the fourth time with a landslide victory of 117 Assembly seats drubbing both the Congress and the BJP who could secure only 16 and 10 seats respectively.
