Odisha: Can Chief Minister Majhi Live up to Prime Minister Modi’s Expectations?

If a few leaders in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which heads the “double engine” government in Odisha, are to be believed, today and tomorrow may turn out to be a “pain in the neck” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has “patiently tried to nurture” Mohan Charan Majhi as a strong Chief Minister of Odisha.

Till date, the Prime Minister has not paid heed to any “propaganda” against Majhi during his over 10-month rule. However, the irony is that Majhi is now in a crosshair situation where he is facing heavy headwinds from strong political opponents within BJP.

There are reports alleging that Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and a few others have been “trying to soil the image” of Majhi through some media platforms.

The most recent being unsubstantiated allegations of state exchequer money “splurged” on a series of investment conclaves in some parts of the country and outside, organised in several star hotels and so on, and Majhi’s stay in presidential suites.

The events in star hotels, in fact, were some business and investment-related meetings where the Chief Minister had to host top industrial and business honchos from home and abroad.  

Now, coming to the tug-of-war within BJP, which is getting sharper by the day.

There are several state BJP leaders who are scrambling in an image-building race but are still not able to position themselves in the party, regardless of their seniority. For instance, Baijayant Panda and Aparajita Sarangi, MPs from Kendrapara and Bhubaneswar, respectively, are said to not have cordial relations with Majhi. Notably, none of the two have been seen in any function of the Chief Minister.   

It is also said that Union Minister Pradhan, worried over losing his “shine in Odisha politics”, is also distancing himself from Majhi.

“It is as simple as that, because Pradhan must be aware of the reality that Majhi enjoys the blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” senior journalist Kameswar Rao told this writer.

Manmohan Samal, whose tenure as BJP state president is over since almost one year now, has still not got a replacement, as the Central leadership has not been able to elect/select a new state president.    

“That somehow also speaks of the image of the Chief Minister, who has not been able to persuade the party central leadership to give the state a new president,” added Rao.

On the delivery front, Chief Minister Majhi’s 10 months or even one year of governance are not enough to assess his performance

Yet, during the past 10 months in power, Majhi’s cabinet has had six ministerial vacancies. Those have not been given a thought so far.  

Most of the state undertakings also have not appointed officers, as on date, after transfer of some key officials. There are about 16 corporations awaiting such appointments.

In addition, inflation continues to hit the common man as prices of essential commodities are on an upward climb, with the Chief Minister not showing any serious concern so far.

Last year (2024) at this time, Odisha experienced the highest inflation rate in India at 7.22%, significantly exceeding the national average of 5.1%. This inflation was attributed to the regional economic disparities and rising prices.    

In 2025, Odisha's retail inflation rate was 6.05 % in January, which it the second highest in India after Kerala.  

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Odisha with over 40 years of experience in the profession. The views are personal.