Naveen Patnaik: Defying Modi wave, Odisha's 'Mr Clean' wins 5th straight term

That Naveen cannot speak Odia without reading it off a paper is a known fact. Perhaps, he is the only chief minister in the country who is not completely comfortable with the local language. He has, over the years, faced criticism because of this. It is well documented that at rallies, Naveen delivers Odia speeches reading from scripts written in Roman alphabets.

However, he has mastered English and French, among others.

But, what is not known is how the 72-year-old managed to hold the state and the party with a grip so firm for almost two decades.

Naveen was born on October 16, 1946 in Cuttack to Bijayananda Patnaik, popularly known as Biju, and his Punjabi wife Gyan. Biju was an aviator and a businessman besides being a politician with the Congress and the Janata Party. Biju also served as Odisha’s chief minister twice.

He spent his early years away from Odisha, studying at the Welham Boys' School in Dehradun and later The Doon School. Naveen attended Kirori Mal College, Delhi University where he studied Bachelor of Arts.

Reportedly called 'pappu' by his friends, Naveen had remained away from politics during these years. However, after the demise of his father in April 1997, he founded the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).

The party, under Naveen’s leadership, stormed to power in the 2000 Odisha Assembly polls in an alliance with the BJP. Naveen assumed the chief minister’s position — the office he continues to hold uninterrupted till date.

Often known as 'Mr Clean', Patnaik-led BJD was able to retain power in the 2004, 2009 and 2014 assembly elections.

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In fact, the 2014 election result surprised many. Battling anti-incumbency, the party won 117 out of 147 seats in the assembly and 20 out of 21 Lok Sabha seats. This was a considerable increase from 2009 where the party won 103 in the assembly and 14 Lok Sabha seats. In the run-up to the 2009 polls, the party had quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

This time, in both the 2019 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections, Naveen was battling anti-incumbency that had accumulated over 19 years. In the last few months, many of his trusted lieutenants such as Baijayant Panda had left the party.

The main Opposition party in the state — Congress — was relegated to the margins in the run up to the elections and had a new rival to deal with — Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP.