Cabinet Rejig: Veterans preferred over young faces; 3 ministers inducted

By A Iswar Rao

Bhubaneswar, May 22: Odisha CM on Monday inducted three veterans  Bikram Keshari Arukha, Sarada Nayak and Sudam Marndi – into his council of ministers with cabinet rank.

Governor Professor Ganeshi Lal administered oath of office and secrecy to the newly inducted ministers here at Lok Seva Bhawan. The new ministers got Cabinet berths.

Bikram Keshari Arukha was the first minister to take oath of office and secrecy. The following ministers were Sudam Marndi and Sarada Nayak.

Soon after the swearing-in ceremony, Bikram Keshari Arukha was given the finance portfolio. Similarly, the school and mass education was given to Sudam Marndi while Sarada Nayak got labour and employee’s insurance portfolio.

Sources in the ruling Biju Janata Dal said the party’s leadership chose the veteran leaders over the young faces keeping in view the geo-political compulsions the party faces ahead of the 2024 assembly elections.

Bikram Arukha who represents Bhanjanagar assembly constituency in State Assembly has now to take care of Ganjam district, the CM’s home turf, as it is facing heightened activities by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress. In the last urban and rural body polls, the BJP came closer to the BJD in most of the seats. It even bagged two urban local bodies in Ganjam.

Sudam Marandi, the lawmaker from Bangiriposi in Mayurbhanj district, is expected to give a checkmate to the BJP. In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP won the Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat and six of the 9 assembly seats.

Similarly, Sarada Nayak of Rourkela, as party sources said, was taken in the council of ministers, to give a check to the BJP in Sundergarh district. Jual Oram BJP won the Sundergarh Lok Sabha seat in 2019. His party also won three of the seven assembly seats while the BJD got two. The Congress and CPI got one each.

With the induction of the three ministers, the number of ministers in Odisha’s council of Ministers went up to 22.

On May 12, school and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash and labour minister Srikant Sahu resigned from their posts. Similarly, the post of the health minister was also lying vacant since the assassination of then health minister Naba Naba Kishore Dash.

However, the suspense over the Odisha Legislative Assembly’s Speaker post still persists.

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Photograph: Newly inducted ministers (from left) Bikram Arukha, Sudam Marndi and Sarada Nayak