By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, May 24, 2019: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik formally tendered his resignation to Governor Ganeshi Lal, who accepted it in order to enable the formation of a new Council of Ministers.

Naveen, who is the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) President, is set to become the Chief Minister for the fifth consecutive term with his party sweeping the Assembly poll with 112 assembly seats in kitty out of 146 seats for which polls were held. Then poll to Patkura assembly seat has been postponed due to death of BJD candidate Bed Prakash Agarwal followed by cyclone Fani.

The new government under Naveen is likely to be sworn-in by the end of this month.

Naveen won both the Assembly seats — his traditional Hinjili seat in Ganjam and Bijepur in western Odisha — he contested.

With this, the 72-year-old leader will also become the third Chief Minister in the country, after former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu and Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling, to get five consecutive terms.