Naveen Patnaik

In 1997, when the beloved Odia politician Biju Patnaik died, his son, Naveen Patnaik, stepped forward to contest the by-election to his father's Lok Sabha seat. Then fiftyone years old, Patnaik, who once ran a boutique in Delhi, had never contested an election or held public office and spoke no Odia. Patnaik wrested absolute control of the BJD and won election after election: he has been elected to the Lok Sabha three times, and as chief minister of Odisha five times. But this winning streak ended in 2024, when the BJP managed to snatch control of the state from the ageing Patnaik.