As Naveen Patnaik begins a new innings as Opposition leader, who all are in his Assembly team?

Along with him, the BJD also elected senior MLA Prasanna Acharya as the deputy leader of the legislature party. Former speaker Pramila Mallik will be the chief whip of the party while former minister Pratap Keshari Deb has been picked as its deputy chief whip.

“We have just had a meeting of the BJD MLAs, who have been elected in the recent elections. I congratulated them and thanked them. They have elected me as the Leader of the Opposition and the leader of the BJD legislature party. We had a very thorough meeting with the MLAs today, where we discussed many matters including the recent elections,” Patnaik told reporters after the meeting.

His election as the Leader of Opposition comes amid widespread apprehension that the party could be on the verge of an existential crisis.

“We accept peoples’ mandate but it’s also a fact that the BJD is the number one party in terms of vote share as we secured 40.22 percent vote share against BJP’s 40.07 percent. We are confident that we will fight back and for that we need Patnaik to remain with us. Hence, it was the unanimous view of our MLAs that he (Patnaik) should be the Leader of Opposition,” a BJD leader told The Indian Express on the condition of anonymity.

A senior BJD leader also admitted that BJD could disintegrate into various groups if Patnaik isn’t around. “He (Patnaik) still enjoys the popularity irrespective of results. With Naveen babu there, the party will remain united and there will be no fear of any rebellion. None other than him (Patnaik) can ensure that,” said the MLA.

As the Leader of Opposition, Patnaik will also continue to have an office in the state assembly building, among other protocols.

All eyes are on the 77-old leader, who as CM, attended the assembly sessions only when required. He now needs to show that the BJD, with 51 MLAs, can play an effective Opposition.

“We have been repeatedly saying that our objective is Odisha’s development and progress. We are firm on that goal. As the principal opposition party, we will support whoever works for Odisha’s interest and oppose whoever works against it,” Acharya, an MLA from Rairakhol, said.

Biju Patnaik loyalist, former ABVP leader — who is Prasanna Acharya

Known to be a loyalist of former chief minister and Naveen’s father Biju Patnaik, Acharya is a four-time MLA and a former minister who found a place in cabinets of both father and son.

The 75-year-old politician who’s known for his sharp political criticism is a native of Bargarh in western Odisha and was first elected from the assembly seat on a Janata Dal ticket in 1990. He went on to retain the seat in 1995 but resigned in 1998 after he became elected as the Sambalpur MP, keeping the seat in both 1999 and 2004 Lok Sabha polls.

Acharya returned to the assembly poll fray in 2009 and won from Rairakhol — his current seat. After losing two elections — the 2014 assembly polls from Bijepur and the 2019 parliamentary election from Bargarh — he fought, and won, the 2024 polls from Rairakhol.

As student leader from the RSS-affiliate ABVP in the 70s, Acharya had participated in the JP movement led by socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan, and was imprisoned under the controversial Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) for 19 months during the Emergency.

As a minister, he held key portfolios such as finance, health, excise and industries.

Pramila Mallik — former minister, strong woman voice

Known to be a powerful woman voice within the BJD, Mallik is a Dalit leader and a seven-time MLA from Binjharpur seat, a reserved SC seat in the state’s Jajpur district. A former student leader like Acharya, 61-year-old Mallik was first elected to the state assembly in 1990 as Janata Dal nominee and has never lost an election since 2000, having gone on to hold key portfolios such as women and child development, and revenue and disaster management in the Naveen Patnaik government.

The chief whip for the BJD in the previous assembly, Mallik was the speaker of the Odisha assembly from last September until the party lost power this month.

Aul MLA, ex-royal — all about Pratap Keshari Deb

Scion of the erstwhile royal family of Aul-Kanika, 53-year-old Deb is a five-time legislator and a former minister. First elected from the Aul assembly seat in Kendrapada district in 2000, Deb became a minister in Patnaik’s cabinet in 2012, holding portfolios such as food supplies and consumer welfare and employment, technical education and training.

He was re-inducted in Patnaik’s cabinet in 2022, eventually handling crucial departments such as energy, industries and micro, small and medium enterprises.

Since his first election in 2000, Deb has lost his family seat, Aul, only once — in 2014, when Congress’s Devendra Sharma beat him by over 3,000 votes. He successfully wrested the seat back in 2019.

Before him, his parents — father Sarat Deb and mother Sushree Devi — held the seat at different points of their political career. His mother Sushree Devi died earlier this year