Naveen Patnaik Outdoes Jyoti Basu, Becomes 2nd Longest Serving CM

Bhubaneswar: Surpassing former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu’s long tenure, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik became the second longest-serving Chief Minister in the country.

As of today, Naveen Patnaik has remained in the CM’s chair in Odisha for 23 years and 138 days. With it, he has equaled the late Jyoti Basu’s tenure as the chief minister of West Bengal. It means he is to break the record of Jyoti Basu’s long stint in CM’s post.

The longest-serving Chief Minister in India is Sikkim’s Pawan Kumar Chamling. He remained in CM’s post for 24 years and 166 days.

Naveen Patnaik began his political career in 1997 by getting elected to the Lok Sabha from the Aska parliamentary constituency in Ganjam district, which had remained vacant after the demise of his illustrious father, Biju Patnaik. He served as a union minister and became CM of Odisha in 2000. Since then he has continued as CM of Odisha.