The much-hyped Ministry reshuffle of the Naveen Patnaik Government would take place on Sunday with Governor SC Jamir swearing in as many as 11 new Ministers at the Raj Bhavan here at 11 am.
The new Ministers are former Assembly Speaker Niranjan Pujari, MlA of Sonepur in Subarnapur district, Surjya Narayan Patro (Digapahandi, Ganjam), Maheswar Mohanty (Puri MlA), Prafulla Samal (Bhandaripokhari, Bhadrak), Pratap Jena (Mahanga, Cuttack), Chandrasarathi Behera (Cuttack Sadar, Cuttack) Sashibhusan Behera (Jayadev, Khordha), Anant Das (Bhograi, Baleswar) Nrusingha Charan Sahu (Parjang, Dhenkanal), Sushant Singh (Bhatli, Bargarh) and Bijay Kumar Nayak (Karanjia, Mayurbhanj),
Six Ministers, Niranjan Pujari, Surjya Patro, Maheswar Mohanty, Prafulla Samal, Pratap Jena and Sashibhusan Behera, have been given Cabinet rank. The remaining five are of Ministers of State status. Besides, existing incumbents Prafulla Mallick and Ramesh Chandra Majhi have been elevated from Ministers of State to the Cabinet rank.
As many as 13 districts are not represented in the new Ministry; they are Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Kalahandi, Balangir, Angul, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Nayagarh, Kandhamal, Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada and Gajapati.
Present Finance Minister Pradip Amat would be the new Assembly Speaker.
On Saturday, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjay Dasburma, Panchayati Raj and law Minister Arun Sahoo, Higher Education Minister Pradeep Panigrahi, Housing and Urban Development Minister Pushpendra Singh Deo, Youth Services and Sports Minister Sudam Marndi, Energy Minister Pranab Prakash Das, School and Mass Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra, Micro Small and Medium Enterprise Minister Jogendra Behera and Tribal Development Minister lal Bihari Himirika have resigned on the day.
Though visibly dissatisfied, these Ministers told the media that they quit their posts to work for strengthening the ruling BJD in the districts assigned to them by party supremo Naveen Patnaik. Their reactions suggested that they were asked by Patnaik to forego Ministerial berths.
Patnaik thanked them for resigning from the Ministry for doing party work.