A photo from the late 1980s, circulating on social media, has a fortyish Naveen Patnaik holding out his palm to be read.

Nobody is sure what the palm reader told him, but she would have done exceedingly well if she told the then New York socialite he would be Odisha’s unrivalled ruler for more than two decades, securing the chief minister’s chair five times running.

Naveen, now 75, on Wednesday marked 25 years in public service as an elected representative, of which he has spent 22 as chief minister of Odisha — a post in which he looks set to continue for the near future.

If that seems remarkable, consider this: Naveen had spent his first 50 years having nothing to do with politics, a world he entered only after his father Biju Patnaik’s death in April 1997. By June 1 that year, he had been elected MP from Aska, Ganjam.

“It has been a nostalgic journey in public life. 25 years back on this day, I was elected as an MP from my state. Gratitude to my 4.5 Cr family for their enduring love & unwavering support,” Naveen tweeted on Wednesday.

Twenty-five years ago, being a rookie had proved no handicap to the bereaved son in the choppy sea of politics. He reorganised the Janata Dal as the Biju Janata Dal, tied up with Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDA at the Centre the next year and secured a Union minister’s berth. By March 5, 2000, he had won Odisha and become chief minister.

Naveen burnished his secular credentials just before the 2009 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, dumping the BJP for allegedly inciting communal violence in Kandhamal after the murder of a monk. He won the polls by himself.

Since then, he has been an independent and popular ruler of Odisha, maintaining good relations with both the Congress and the BJP at the Centre although the claims of equidistance have often been tested by his failure to join the Opposition’s criticism of some of the Narendra Modi government’s decisions.

“Our prime interest is the state’s welfare,” a BJD leader explained.

Within the state, the BJP’s efforts to dent his image as an honest politician have failed as badly as its bid to dislodge him from power.

To ordinary Odias, “Naveen Babu’s” white kurta-pyjamas remain as unsullied as their adoration of the lifelong bachelor — another surprise for a man who hardly spoke any Odia when he first helmed the state and even now, many say, struggles to speak the language.

He has had his critics. His showing the door to the veteran Bijay Mohapatra, who had played a key role in the BJD’s formation, didn’t go down well with everyone. He has watched leaders like Baijayant aka Jay Panda leave, and Pyari Mohan Mohapatra attempt a coup.

Nor has he been squeamish about sidelining Biju loyalists or buying off detractors with plum posts.

Over the years, Naveen has also been accused of over-dependence on the bureaucracy. “Like it or not, he knows how to build his own team that can deliver,” a BJD politician said.

Ashutosh Mishra, a political analyst, reckons that 25 years is just another milestone in a political career that promises to go on for a while, given the disarray in Opposition ranks and the chief minister’s knack for never putting a foot wrong.

“Unless he commits a blunder to hand the Opposition an advantage, it seems impossible to defeat him,” Mishra said.

No palm reader would be betting against Naveen winning another election and threatening Sikkim politician Pawan Kumar Chamling’s record for longevity as chief minister, now just over two years away from his grasp.