Marking the end of his 24-year-rule in Odisha, BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday resigned from the post of the Chief Minister after the defeat of his party in the Assembly elections in the State. Patnaik handed over his resignation letter to Governor Raghubar Das at the Raj Bhavan, sources said.  Patnaik had for the first time taken oath as the chief minister of Odisha on March 5, 2000.

Though a number of BJD leaders had gathered at Patnaik's residence, he came alone to the Governor's house to tender his resignation. The BJD supremo only waved at waiting journalists and left the premises after submitting his resignation letter.

The BJP stormed to power in Odisha by securing 78 of the 147 Assembly seats, while the BJD managed to win only 51 seats. Congress bagged 14 constituencies and CPI (M) secured one, while three Independent candidates also emerged victorious.

Patnaik and BJP and Congress State presidents Manmohan Samal and Sarat Pattanayak respectively, had to suffer defeats in the Odisha Assembly elections.

Although Patnaik won from his traditional Hinjili Assembly seat in Ganjam district by a slender margin of 4,636 votes, the five-term former Chief Minister had to suffer a humiliating defeat to a political novice in Kantabanji constituency in Bolangir.

The BJD supremo lost Kantabanji to BJP's Laxman Bag by 16,344 votes. While Bag got 90,876 votes, Patnaik received 74,532 votes.  This was the first time that Patnaik faced electoral defeat in his political career spanning 26 years.

Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Sarat Pattanayak suffered a worse fate as he finished fourth in Nuapada assembly segment, bagging only 15,501 votes.

The seat was bagged by BJD candidate Rajendra Dholakia, who got 61,822 votes, while Independent nominee Ghasiram Majhi came second, securing 50,941 votes.

Amid speculations over who would be the next chief minister of Odisha, state BJP president Manmohan Samal on Wednesday the party's parliamentary board will take a decision on it in a day or two.