In a major reshuffle, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik removed as many as 12 Ministers and inducted new faces in places of them on Sunday.
The Ministers, who have been dropped, included five powerful leaders holding important portfolios. They are Law and Panchayati Raj Minister Pratap Jena, Higher Education Minister Arun Sahoo, Minister of State (Home) Dibya Shankar Mishra, Commerce and Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera and Labour and Employees State Insurance Minister Sushanta Singh.
Pratap Jena and Dibya Shankar Mishra were eased out obviously due to the scams they faced last year.
All 21 Ministers were sworn in at a special ceremony at the Lokseva Bhawan here. Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Ministers, 13 of them of Cabinet rank and eight Ministers of State.
The 12 new faces in the Ministerial team included five women. They are: Nuapada MLA Rajendra Dholakia; Aul MLA Pratap Keshari Deb;
Binjharpur MLA Pramila Mallik; Rairakhol MLA Rohit Pujari; Jaleswar MLA Aswini Kumar Patra; Mahakalpada MLA Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak; Polasara MLA Srikanta Sahu; Chikiti MLA Usha Devi; Sukinda MLA Pritiranjan Ghadai; Bijepur MLA Rita Sahu; Boudh MLA Pradip Kumar Amat; and Karanjia MLA Basanti Hembram
The reshuffle, which came shortly after the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD Government completed three years of its fifth term in office on May 29, is said to a political exercise in view of the general elections in 2024.
Obviously to reinforce the impression that his ruling BJD champions the cause of women empowerment, Naveen Patnaik has inducted five women into the Ministry as against only two who were in the last team.
Patnaik has also increased the Ministerial representation from western Odisha from six to seven to strengthen the party in that region, from where the BJP won most of its seats in the last elections and to which the new Pradesh Congress Committee president Sarat Pattanayak belong