Cabinet rejig: Odisha gets 11 new ministers

Bhubaneswar: Eleven ministers were sworn-in in the reshuffle of the Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik. The ministers were administered oath of office by governor Dr S.C. Jamir at a special function held at Raj Bhavan here.

While Suryanarayan Patro, Prafulla Samal, Niranjan Pujari, Sashi Bhusan Behera, Pratap Jena and Maheswar Mohanty were sworn-in as Cabinet ministers, Ananta Das, Chandra Sarathi Behera, Dr Nrusingha Sahoo and Susant Singh were sworn in as ministers of state (MoS).

Steel and mines minister Prafulla Mallick and commerce and transport minister Ramesh Majhi were elevated as Cabinet ministers. Soon after the reshuffle, the CM distributed portfolios among the new ministers.

Senior BJD leader Sashi Bhusan Behera was given finance and excise department, while parliamentary affairs and rural development was allocated to Bikram Arukh. Maheswar Mohanty was given revenue and disaster management, while Prafulla Samal got women and child development, social welfare and MSME departments. Suryanarayan Patro got the food supplies and consumer welfare department. Steel and mines minister Prafulla Mallick was elevated from minister of state to a member of the Cabinet and also got the additional charge of the energy department. Minister of state Ramesh Majhi, also promoted to Cabinet rank, got SC & ST development.

Among the ministers of state, Susant Singh got labour and ESI while Dr Nrusingha Sahoo was given commerce and transport. Chandra Sarathi Behera got sports, youth affairs and information technology while higher education went to Anant Das.

There was reshuffling in the portfolios of veteran leader Dr Damodar Rout and a few others. Dr Rout, who previously held the cooperation and excise ministries, was given agriculture and general administration. Similarly, Bijayshree Rout shifted from the revenue and disaster department to the forest and environment ministry. Usha Devi, who held the lost women and child development ministry, was allocated planning and coordination. Badrinarayan Patra lost rural development and got school and mass education department.

Although the chief minister reshuffles his ministry every two years, he delayed it this time because of the pressure arising from several factors, especially from a young brigade. He managed to get rid of the brigade tactfully by dividing them.