CHANDIGARH, 5 MARCH: Pawan Chamling of Sikkim & Jyoti Basu of West Bengal are two ex-CMs whose tenure has been more than Patnaik till date– Advocate Hemant Kumar
Chandigarh – Today 5 March 2023, the Chief Minister (CM) of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik completes straight 23 years in office. He was sworn in as such on 5 March 2000 and has been continuing till date uninterrupted. 76 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 5 March also happens to be the birth anniversary of Naveen’s father Late Biju Patnaik also termes as Bhumiputra of the State and who also remained CM of Odisha (then Orissa) twice.
Meanwhile, Hemant further said that as on date, only two former Chief Ministers in India viz. Pawan Kumar Chamling of Sikkim, whose running tenure was 24 years & 166 days and Late Jyoti Basu, who continuously remained as Chief Minister of West Bengal for 23 years & 138 days are ahead of Naveen Patnaik in the elite list of longest serving former Chief Ministers in the country.
The Advocate added that Patnaik’s current i.e. till date fifth successive tenure is till May, 2024, hence he would complete 24 years as Odisha CM on March 5 next year. And further if he gets re-elected for record 6th time in next 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 23 years, he is followed by Nitish Kumar of Bihar whose till date tenure is 16 years & 196 days. Then comes Neiphiu Rio of Nagaland whose tenure has been 16 years & 8 days. In the coming week, he would also begin his fresh innings as CM of Nagaland after being re-elected recently. The list then includes Madhya Pradesh CM Shivaj Singh Chauthal whose tenure has been 16 years. The next is Mizoram CM Zoramthanga with tenure of 14 years & 88 days and closely followed by Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan whose tenure is 14 years & 86 days. The list then includes the name of N. Rangaswamy, current CM of UT of Puducherry whose tenure is 13 years & 271 days, Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal whose tenure is 11 years & 289 days and finally EK Nayanar of Kerala with tenure of 10 years 355 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.