Bhubaneswar: The swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was a star studded affair with around 7,000 dignitaries attending the event at the Idco Exhibition Ground here.
The list includes renowned flute artist Hariprasad Chaurasia, eminent sculptor Raghunath Mahapatra, vocalist Prafulla Kar, danseuse Priyambada Mohanty, industrialists Kumaramangalam Birla, Naveen Jindal, Sanjeev Puri (ITC), Managing Director of Tata Steel, TV Narendran, Tech Mahindra MD CP Gurnani, Mindtree president, KK Natrajan, Puneet Dalmia (OCL), Sangeeta Reddy (Apollo Hospitals Group) and P R Venkatarama Rajha of Ramco Group, Odissi dancer Aruna Mohanty, Chess player Padmini Rout, athlete Dutee Chand, Cardiologists Ramakant Panda, TP Das and Subrat Acharya.
Apart from chief minister’s elder brother and businessman Prem Patnaik, sister and noted writer Gita Mehta watched Naveen take oath as chief minister of the state for the fifth time.
Though author Gita Mehta had earlier attended Naveen’s swearing-in ceremonies, it was the first time for Prem, an industrialist, who attended his brother’s oath-taking ceremony this year.
A large number of BJD supporters and women grass root leaders also attended the function.