13 districts have no representation
Creating a new high in the State’s electoral politics in the recent polls, BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday set a milestone by becoming the Chief Minister for the straight fourth time. Patnaik was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor SC Jamir at a swearing-in ceremony held in the premises of the Raj Bhavan here.
Besides Patnaik, 21 Ministers, including 11 of Cabinet rank, also were sworn in. later in the afternoon, the Chief Minister distributed portfolios among his Council of Ministers.
Patnaik, in his new team, retained nine members of the outgoing Council of Ministers. Nine new faces figured in the new Ministry while the rest three had served the earlier Ministry in various capacities.
The Cabinet Ministers who were sworn are former Speaker Pradeep Kumar Amat (Boudh district), Bikram Keshari Arukha (Ganjam), Usha Devi (Ganjam), Badri Narayan Patra (Keonjhar), Bijayashree Routray (Bhadrak), Debi Prasad Mishra (Cuttack), Damodar Rout (Jagatsinghpur), Jogendra Behera (Bolangir), lal Bihari Himirika (Rayagada), Pradeep Maharathi (Puri) and Puspendar Singh Deo (Kalahandi).
The Ministers of State are Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak (Kendrapada), Arun Sahu (Nayagarh), Prafulla Mallick (Dhenkanal), Ramesh Chandra Majhi (Nabarangpur), Ashok Panda (Khordha), Pranab Prakash Das (Jajpur), Sanjaya Das Burma (Puri), Snehangini Chhuria (Bargarh), Sudam Marndi (Mayrubhanj) and Dr Pradeep Kumar Panigrahi (Ganjam).
Snehangini Chhuria, who has been elected for the first time, got a Minister’s berth. Pranab Prakash Das, Sanjaya Das Burma and Dr Pradeep Panigrahi, members in the last Assembly, got chances to become Ministers while former MlA and former lok Sabha member Sudam Marndi, who had joined the BJD leaving the JMM on the eve of the elections, also got a berth of Minister of State rank.
Amat got a chance in the new Ministry while Badri Narayan Patra, who served as Minister of State (Ind) Higher Education in the outgoing Council of Ministers, got elevated to the Cabinet Minister rank in the new team. Patra won his Ghasipura seat by the largest margin of over 88,000 votes in the State this time.
Pushpendra Singh Deo, a former Minister of State (Ind), who was dropped from the Ministry for allegedly having links with Pyarimohan Mohapatra in the wake of the aborted coup against Naveen Patnaik’s leadership on May 29, 2012, interestingly found favour with Patnaik and was promoted to the Cabinet rank.
However, his erstwhile colleague Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, another known Pyari loyalist, who had got the axe after the coup, got a raw deal as far as his rank is concerned. He remained in the Minister of State rank.
Jogendra Behera of loisingha, a five-time MlA, became Minister for the first time, and that too in the Cabinet rank.
Out of the 30 districts, 17 - Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Boudh, Puri, Rayagada, Balangir, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Nayagarh, Kendrapada, Mayurbhanj, Khurda, Jajpur and Bargarh got representation in the new Ministry and nobody figured from the remaining 13 districts.
While forming his new Ministry, Patnaik gave more importance to his home district Ganjam with three more representations, besides him.
Puri district got two representations. Boudh, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Rayagada, Balangir, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Nayagarh, Kendrapada, Mayrubhanj, Khorda and Bargarh got one representation each.
While there are four members from ST and two from SC community in the Council of Ministers, only two out of the 10 BJD women MlAs were included in the Ministry.