Mohan Charan Majhi (born 6 January 1972) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party who has been Chief Minister of Odisha since 12 June 2024. A tribal leader from the mining district of Keonjhar, he is the first Chief Minister the party has had in the state. His appointment followed the election that ended the twenty-four-year rule of Naveen Patnaik.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Mohan Charan Majhi |
| Born | 6 January 1972, Raikala, Keonjhar district, Odisha |
| Age | 54 |
| State | Odisha |
| Community | Santal |
| Party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Offices | Chief Minister of Odisha (since June 2024); Member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly for Keonjhar (2000–2009; since 2019) |
| Spouse | Priyanka Marndi |
| Children | 2 |
Early Life
He was born in the village of Raikala in Keonjhar, a hilly, forested district in the north of Odisha that holds much of India’s iron ore. His family belongs to the Santal tribe; his father worked as a security guard. He graduated from a college in the district and later took a law degree.
He taught for a time at a school run by an organisation linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Career
Village head to legislator
He was elected sarpanch of his village council in 1997. In 2000 he won the Keonjhar assembly seat, reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, for the BJP, and held it in 2004, when his party was the junior partner in Naveen Patnaik’s government. He served as the government’s deputy chief whip.
After the alliance broke in 2009 he lost twice. He returned in 2019 and became the chief whip of the BJP, then the main opposition party. He made a name as a persistent questioner of the government, particularly on irregularities in mining and in the supply of pulses to school meals. In 2023 he was briefly suspended from the House for throwing pulses towards the Speaker’s podium, an act he denied.
Chief Minister
In the election of 2024, held with the general election, the BJP won 78 of the 147 seats and the Biju Janata Dal 51. The party chose Majhi, who had never been a minister, as Chief Minister, with two deputies. He was sworn in on 12 June 2024.
- **Jagannath Temple:** on its first day the cabinet ordered all four gates of the temple at Puri reopened to devotees, and in July 2024 the temple’s inner treasury, the Ratna Bhandar, was opened for an inventory for the first time in decades
- **Subhadra Yojana:** payments totalling fifty thousand rupees over five years to women, the party’s chief election promise
- **Paddy:** a price of 3,100 rupees a quintal for farmers’ rice
- **Odia identity:** the campaign had been fought on the theme of Odia pride, and his government has stressed language and heritage
His government has faced criticism over crimes against women and over communal incidents in some towns.
Personal Life
He is married to Priyanka Marndi; they have two sons. He lived in a modest government flat as a legislator, and at the time of his elevation was little known outside his district.
He is among several tribal leaders heading states in eastern and central India, with Vishnu Deo Sai of Chhattisgarh and Hemant Soren of Jharkhand.
Featured image: Mohan Charan Majhi, Chief Minister of Odisha, in May 2026. Photo by the Prime Minister’s Office, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
