By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, May 31, 2019: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a habit of springing surprises as he picked up Pratap Chandra Sarangi, BJP’s MP from Balasore in Odisha as minister of state.

Known as ‘Odisha’s Modi’, Sarangi lives a Spartan life in a thatched hut. According to his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission, Sarangi has not paid income-tax in the last five financial years since he did not have a taxable income.

When the 64-year-old Sarangi was invited to take oath, he got the loudest cheer probably after PM Modi, Amit Shah, Smrit Irani and Rajnath Singh.

Sarangi serves as a National Executive member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He had been elected as Member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly, two times: from 2004 to 2009 and from 2009 to 2014, both times from Nilagiri constituency in Balasore district.

He also contested in the 2014 from Balasore, Lok Sabha constituency as a BJP candidate, which he lost. He contested again in the 2019 Indian general election from Balasore, Lok Sabha constituency as a BJP candidate, in which he defeated the Biju Janata Dal candidate and sitting MP, Rabindra Kumar Jena, by a margin of 12,95,567 votes.

Born on 4 January 1955 in the village of Gopinathpur, Nilagiri, Balasore, Sarangi completed his bachelor’s degree from Fakir Mohan College, Balasore under Utkal university in 1975.

Since his childhood, Sarangi was a spiritual seeker. He wanted to become a monk of the Ramakrishna Math. He made several visits to Belur Math, the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Order in Howrah, West Bengal. The monks of the Math discussed with Sarangi about his desire and examined his biodata. They came to know that Sarangi’s widowed mother was alive. They insisted that he should go back and serve her. After his return to his village, he became involved in various social activities.

Sarangi opened many schools for the poor called Samar Kara Kendra, under the Gana Shikhsa Mandir Yojana in tribal villages in Balasore and Mayurbhanj District also spending the major portion of his MLA pension to support the education of poor children in his area.