Odisha cabinet reshuffle: New ministers to take oath at Lok Seva Bhawan tomorrow

Bhubaneswar, May 21: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will reshuffle his Council of Ministers and the newly inducted Ministers will take oath at the Lok Seva Bhawan in Bhubaneswar on Monday.

Governor Professor Ganeshi Lal will administer the oath to new ministers at the conference hall of the Lok Seva Bhawan at 9.50 am tomorrow.

Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena has requested all the invitees to be present at Lok Seva Bhawan by 9 am.

The Cabinet reshuffle has been necessitated following the resignation of the two Ministers. Apart from that, one more position is lying vacant after the assassination of Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Das in January.

On May 12, Odisha Assembly Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha, School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash and Labour Minister Srikanta Sahu resigned from their posts.

The government will name a new Speaker in place of Arukha. Besides, three new Ministers will also be inducted in place of the vacant positions.

The name of Dipali Das, daughter of Naba Das, has surfaced in the race for a ministerial berth. Besides, speculations are also rife that, apart from Dipali, Susanta Singh and Sarada Nayak from western Odisha are in the fray too.

Similarly, senior leaders like Debi Mishra, Prasanta Muduli, Bikram Keshari Arukha, Umakanta Samantaray, and Byomkesh Ray from the coastal belt are among the frontrunners for a ministerial berth.

On the other hand, Amar Satapathy, Shashi Bhusan Behera, Debi Prasad Mishra, Prafulla Samal, and Niranjan Pujari are in the race for the Assembly Speaker position.

As it will be probably the last reshuffle of the Cabinet before the 2024 General Election, many MLAs have started lobbying for the ministerial berth.

-OTV