Suspense over who will be the first BJP chief minister in Odisha continues after the initial June 10 swearing-in ceremony has been pushed to June 12.

With Dharmendra Pradhan included in the Modi 3.0 ministry, his name gets excluded from the chief minister's race. Pradhan, the face of the BJP, was among the top contenders for the post.

Sources said that considering the BJP MP’s weight at the Centre, the party decided not to risk asking Pradhan to resign and take charge as the chief minister.

“According to the constitutional provision, a person must contest the Assembly elections within six months after being sworn in as CM. Considering the groundswell sympathy wave for Naveen Patnaik after the BJD lost the elections, the BJP leadership did not want to take a chance on this issue. There is no guarantee Pradhan will be elected to the Assembly again. There is a chance the party may lose the Lok Sabha seat too,” said a political pundit.

Besides, Pradhan has extensive experience at the Centre and a good relationship with JDU leader Nitish Kumar, since he had earlier been elected to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar. “Someone needs to talk to these leaders and Pradhan is the right choice,” said a source.

The BJP state vice-president, Golak Mohapatra, said: “The oathtaking of the chief minister in Odisha has been rescheduled to June 12 to ensure that Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the state and joins the swearing-in ceremony of the first BJP government in Odisha. Besides Modi, other leaders, including Amit Shah and BJP national president J.P. Nadda, may join the ceremony.

The Prime Minister had announced during his election campaign that if the BJP was voted to power, the party’s first chief minister in the state would take oath on June 10. However, as the BJP remained busy forming the ministry in Delhi, the party did not have time to zero in on a new chief minister.

There are many contenders for the post, including the state party unit president Manmohan Samal, senior MLAs K.V. Singh Deo, Suresh Pujari, Surama Padhi and young MLA Surya Suryabanshi. Brajrajnagar MLA and firebrand leader from western Odisha, Suresh Pujari, was one of the front-runners for the post.

The RSS reportedly backed the party’s state president, Manmohan Samal, for the post. “Samal would have been the natural choice but he lost the election. The party leadership is most likely to pick one among the elected MLAs,” an inside source said.

The party state legislature meeting will be held on June 10 to discuss the issue and later it will recommend one of the names to the party’s parliamentary board.