Today 5 March 2024, the Chief Minister (CM) of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik completes straight 24 years in office. He was sworn in as such on 5 March 2000 and has been continuing till date uninterrupted. 77 years old Patnaik is also President of Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the recognized State Party in Odisha.
An Advocate at Punjab & Haryana High Court, Hemant Kumar, after researching and analysing official data in this regard asserted that the date of 5 March also happens to be the birth anniversary of Naveen's father Late Biju Patnaik (actual name Bijayananda Patnaik- born 5 March 1916) who is also regarded as Bhumiputra of the State and who also remained CM of Odisha (then Orissa) twice (firstly 1961-63 and then 1990-95).
Meanwhile, Hemant further said that as on date, only one former Chief Minister in India viz. Pawan Kumar Chamling of Sikkim, whose running tenure was 24 years & 166 days is ahead of Naveen Patnaik in the elite list of longest serving former Chief Ministers in the country. Late Jyoti Basu, continuously remained as Chief Minister of West Bengal for 23 years & 137 days .
The Advocate added that Patnaik's current fifth successive tenure as CM of Odisha is till May, 2024. Further if he gets re-elected for record 6th time in upcoming Odisha Assembly General Elections scheduled in Apr-May 2024, then he would also surpass Pawan Chamling, former Sikkim CM who as on date holds the distinction of having remained the longest serving CM in India.
Hemant further revealed that as far as those CMs in the country are concerned whose total tenure remained more than 20 years although not uninterrupted, there have been three such viz. Gegong Apang who remained as CM of Arunachal Pradesh for a total period of 22 years & 250 days followed by Lal Thanhawla of Mizoram who total tenure has been 22 years & 60 days and then followed by Virbhadra Singh who remained as CM of Himachal Pradesh for 21 years & 13 years though not in succession.
The above list further includes name of Manik Sarkar, former CM of Tripura with straight and total tenure of 19 years & 363 days followed by Late M. Karunanidhi of Tamil Nadu, who remained as CM of the State for total four times with overall tenure of 18 years & 362 days. Then comes the name of Parkash Singh Badal, who remained as Chief Minister of Punjab for a total of five terms and has got an overall tenure of 18 years & 350 days.
Amongst the current CMs in India, after Naveen Patnaik with running tenure of 24 years, he is followed by Nitish Kumar of Bihar whose till date tenure is 17 years & 197 days. Then comes Neiphiu Rio of Nagaland whose tenure has been 17 years & 9 days.
The list then includes the name of N. Rangaswamy, current CM of UT of Puducherry whose tenure is 14 years & 272 days followed by Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal whose tenure is 12 years & 290 days. As far as PM Narendra Modi is concerned, he remained CM of Gujarat for straight 12 years & 227 days i.e. from 7 Oct 2001 to 22 May 2014, when he resigned to take Oath as 14th Prime Minister of India, quips Hemant.