Ten ministers including six new faces from the Biju Janta Dal (BJD) party were inducted into the cabinet of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik-led Odisha government on Sunday.
Six new Cabinet ministers and four MoS were sworn in today (Sunday). Besides, two MoS were elevated to the rank of Cabinet ministers.Naveen Patnaik
Governor SC Jamir administered the oath to the new ministers in the presence of Naveen Patnaik and others leaders of the BJD at the Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar.
While Niranjan Pujari, Surya Naryan Patro, Prafulla Samal, Pratap Jena, Sashi Bhusan Behera and Maheswar Mohanty were given the cabinet rank, four took oath as ministers of state.
Except Behera, other five were ministers in the Patnaik government, which has been ruling the state for the past 17 years.
Niranjan Pujari, who became a minister after quitting the Speaker post in the state Assembly said,
I thank Patnaik for reposing faith in me. I will perform to best of my abilities for the betterment of the state.
Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick and Commerce and Transport Minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi have been elevated to the status of cabinet rank.
The ministers of state are Sushant Singh, Nrushingha Sahu, Chandra Sarathi Behera and Ananta Narayan Das.
I thank the Chief Minister and the people of Odisha for reposing faith in me. I will work with the guidance of Naveen Patnaik.Chandra Sarathi Behera
"I will work for strengthening the party and ensure Odisha government's schemes reach people," said Sushant Singh.
The name of Karanjia MLA Bijay Nayak, who was supposed to take oath as minister of state, was dropped at the last minute, sources said.
Allocation of Portfolios
Sashi Bhusan Behera was given charge of the Finance and Excise Department while Parliamentary Affairs and Rural Development was allocated to Bikram Keshari Arukh.
Damodar Rout, who earlier was in charge of Excise, got Agriculture and Public Enterprises while Pradeep Maharathy got the Panchayati Raj Department. Bijayshree Routray has been given the charge of Forest and Environment Department.
Usha Devi has been appointed the new Planning, Coordination and Technical Education Minister while Surya Narayan Patro will be the Food Supplies and Cooperation Minister.
Maheswar Mohanty has been allocated the Revenue portfolio, Niranjan Pujari Industry and Urban Development and Badri Narayan Patra, School and Mass Education.
Prafulla Mallick, who retained the Steel and Mines Department, also got charge of Energy Department.
Pratap Jena was named the new Health Minister while Ramesh Majhi has been given charge of SC/ST Development Department.
Prafulla Samal has been named the Women and Child Welfare Minister.
There was no change in the portfolios of Ashok Panda and Snehangini Chhuria, who retained Tourism and Culture Department, and Handloom and Textile portfolios respectively.
Among the Ministers of State, Nrusingha Charan Sahu has been allotted Commerce and Transport, while Chandra Sarathi Behera has been given charge of Sports and Youth Affairs and IT.
Ananta Das has been given charge of Higher Education and Susanta Singh Labour and ESI Department.
Pradip Kumar Amat, who resigned as Finance and Health Minister, is likely to become the Assembly Speaker. Nirajnan Pujari, earlier the Speaker, has been inducted as a minister.
13 Districts Have No Representation in Naveen's New Ministry
Thirteen of the 30 districts of Odisha remain unrepresented in the government after Patnaik’s cabinet reshuffle on Sunday, while his home turf Ganjam has the highest number of four ministers.
Bikram Keshari Arukha, SN Patro and Usha Devi hailed from Ganjam district besides Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik himself.
The district which are not represented in the council of ministers are Jajpur, Kendrapara, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Gajapati, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Koraput and Mayurbhanj.
The two tribal dominated districts, Mayurbhanj and Kalahandi, where Opposition BJP performed exceptionally well in the recent panchayat polls, also remained unrepresented in the ministry.
Pushpendra Singhdeo had been the lone minister from Kalahandi and he was told to resign on Saturday. Similarly, Sudam Marndi from Mayurbhanj was dropped from the ministry and nobody replaced him in the ministry.
Jajpur and Kendrapara districts, known as the BJD's fort, also remained unrepresented in the ministry after Pranab Prakash Das (Jajpur) resigned on Saturday. Earlier, Atanu S Nayak from Kendrapara district was dropped from the ministry as health minister following a fire incident at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar.
Surprisingly, small districts like Khurda, Bhadrak and Bargarh have two ministers each.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS)