Finally, Odisha CM effects biggest ever Cabinet reshuffle

Bhubaneswar, May 7: After months of speculation, Chief
Minister Naveen Patnaik finally reshuffled his Cabinet by inducting 10 fresh
faces and elevating two Ministers of State (MoS), including a tribal face to the
Cabinet rank on Sunday.

Earlier on Saturday, ten Ministers, Pradip Kumar Amat, Debi
Prasad Mishra, Lal Behari Himirika, Jogendra Behera, Pushpendra Singhdeo, Arun
Kumar Sahoo, Sanjay Dasburma, Sudam Marndi, Pranab Prakash Das and Pradeep
Panigrahi had resigned paving the way for the four-time Chief Minister to
revamp his three-year-old Ministry. This is the first time the CM effected a
reshuffle in his fourth term.

Governor Dr SC Jamir administered the oath of office and
secrecy to the new Ministers in the presence of the CM, his Ministerial
colleagues and Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly at the Abhishek Hall
of the Raj Bhavan.

“Welcome all colleagues who have taken oath today. We will
work as a team towards Odisha’s development and empowerment of people,” said
the Chief Minister after the oath taking ceremony.

While the Chief Minister inducted ten new faces in the Council
of Ministers, two MoS, Prafulla Mallick and Ramesh Chandra Majhi, were elevated
to the Cabinet rank.

Among the new faces, Surjya Narayan Patro, Niranjan Pujari,
Pratap Jena, Maheswar Mohanty, Sashi Bhusan Behera and Prafulla Samal took oath
as the Cabinet Ministers while Nrushingha Sahu, Anant Das, Chandra Sarathi
Behera and Sushant Singh were chosen as the Ministers of State by the CM.

Pradip Kumar Amat is tipped to be appointed as the Speaker
of the Odisha Assembly.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik distributed portfolios
among 18 Ministers today. 

While Pradeep Maharathy was given Panchayati Raj Department,
Damodar Rout was allocated Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry, Bikrma
Keshari Arukh (Rural Development and Parliamentary Affairs), Usha Devi (Skill
Development and Technical Education), Badri Narayan Patra (School and Mass
Education and Science and Technology), Surjya Narayan Patro (Food Supplies,
Consumer Welfare and Co-operation), Niranjan Pujari (Housing and Urban
Development and Industries), Prafulla Samal (Women and Child Development,
Mission Shakti and SSPD), Ramesh Majhi (SC and ST Development), Maheswar
Mohanty (Revenue and Disaster Managment), Sashibhusan Behera (Finance and
Excise), Pratap Jena (Health and Family Welfare and Law) and Prafulla
Kumar  Mallick (Steel and Mines and
Energy). They all got the Cabinet rank.

Nursingha Sahu was made Minister of State (MoS) of Commerce
and Transport, Sushant Singh was given Labour and Employees’ State Insurance
Department, Anata Das (Higher Education) and Chandra Sarathi Behera was
allocated Electronics and Information and Technology, Sports and Youth
Services.