New Delhi: Puri's Jagannath Mandir has taken a centre stage in Odisha politics with newly-elected Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi fulfilling the poll promise of opening all four gates of the shrine on the very first day of government. All four gates of the Puri Jagannath Mandir were opened on Thursday, June 13. Puri's Jagannath Mandir has 4 gates - Simhadwara, Ashwadwara, Vyaghradwara and Hastidwara - located on the 4 sides of the temple. The gates were shut during the Covid pandemic and after that only Simhadwara (Lion Gate) was opened for devotees, leading to long queues. Opening all gates of the Puri Jagannath Mandir was one of the biggest poll promises of the Bharatiya Janata Party during the Odisha assembly elections.

Newly-Elected CM and BJP leader Mohan Charan Manjhi along with Puri MP Sambit Patra offered prayers at the Jagannath Mandir on Thursday as all four gates of the Mandir was opened for devotees. "We had proposed to open all the four gates of Jagannath Temple in yesterday's cabinet meeting. The proposal was passed and today at 6:30 am, I along with my MLAs and Puri MP (Sambit Patra) attended the 'Mangala aarti'," said Mohan Charan Manjhi after offering prayers, as quoted by ANI.

For the sake of conservation and preservation of the Puri Jagnnath Mandir, CM Majhi said the Cabinet decided to constitute a corpus fund of Rs 500 crore to look after the issues related to the shrine."For the development of the Jagannath Temple and other works, we have proposed a fund in the cabinet. When we present the next state budget, we will allot a corpus fund of Rs 500 crores for the temple management," said the Odisha CM. 

Top 4 Priorities of Manjhi Government 

Apart from Jagannath Mandir, CM Manjhi's cabinet has also decided to form a policy for the farmers to raise the  minimum support price (MSP) of paddy to ₹ 3100 per quintal within the first 100 days of his government. He said that a committee will be formed very soon for implementation of the proposal. CM Mohan Manjhi, during his first cabinet meeting, also said that a special policy "Samruddha Krushak Niti Yojana" will be framed to deal with the problems of farmers including the MSP to farmers. “The departments have been asked to prepare a proper guideline and roadmap in this regard and present it before the government," said the Chief Minister. 

Mohan Manjhi Takes Charge as First BJP CM of Odisha 

Four-time MLA and tribal leader from Keonjhar district Mohan Charan Majhi was on Wednesday sworn in as the first BJP chief minister of Odisha. This is the first time that a BJP government has been formed in the eastern state after defeating the 24-year-old Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government headed by Naveen Patnaik. The saffron party stormed to power in Odisha by securing 78 seats in the 147-member Assembly while Patnaik-led BJD got 51 seats, Congress (14), CPI(M) won in one seat while Independents got three. 

The oath taking ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with several Union ministers and chief ministers. Governor Raghubar Das administered the oath of secrecy and office to 52-year-old Majhi, who hails from the Santhal community, and other members of his council of ministers at Janata Maidan.