Bhubaneswar: Naveen Patnaik, who won the state elections with a resounding margin, took oath as the Chief Minister for a fifth consecutive term Wednesday. A 20-member Council of Ministers also took oath along with Patnaik at the Idco Exhibition Grounds here. The Chief Minister-designate was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Ganeshi Lal.
The newly-elected BJD MLAs also took oath as ministers, including 11 of Cabinet rank, at the swearing-in ceremony attended by a host of dignitaries.
Along with Patnaik, 11 Cabinet ministers – two of them new comers, four ministers from the outgoing Cabinet and five former ministers were also sworn-in.
Similarly, among the nine ministers of state who were sworn in Wednesday eight were new faces while one was the minister in the previous government.
Patnaik and Cabinet minister Ranendra Pratap Swain took the oath in English, Cabinet minister Sudam Marandi took the oath in Santhali languge. The rest took the oath in Odia. Chief Minister Patnaik’s elder brother Prem Patnaik and sister Geeta Meheta graced the swearing in ceremony.
Patnaik had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi, all MPs from Odisha and all the MLAs besides senior political leaders of other parties and top business houses to the swearing in ceremony.
The BJD had captured 112 seats in the 147-member Assembly. Elections were held in 146 seats but polling in Patkura Assembly seat was postponed twice, once due to the death of BJD candidate and later due to the cyclonic storm Fani which devastated the coastal Odisha. Eleven Cabinet ministers who were sworn in — Bikram Keshari Arukh, Prafulla Kumar Mallick, Niranjan Pujari and Pratap Jena — were Cabinet ministers in the previous government.
Arun Kumar Sahu, who was dropped from the cabinet in the past, was reinducted into the council. Padmanav Behera who was the cabinet ministers in the third term of the Patnaik government was aldo inducted. Sudam Marandi had earlier served as minister of state and this time he has been elevated to the cabinet rank. Sushant Singh who was a minister of state in the last government was elevated to the cabinet rank.
After the oath-taking, the Chief Minister addressed his new Council of Ministers and advised them to fast track governance for timely fruition of promises made to the people and for the transformation of the state into a new and empowered Odisha. He also emphasised his 3T concept of governance – teamwork, transparency and technology transformation. Naba Kishore Das and Tukuni Sahu were the two lucky to get the cabinet berth in the first chance. Das was the sitting Congress MLA from Jharsuguda Assembly who quit the party just before the election and won the seat as BJD candidate.
On the other hand, two-time MLA Tukuni Sahu from Titlagarh in Western Odisha got the cabinet berth for the first time, the only woman in the ministry to become cabinet minister.
While the Chief Minister retained the key portfolios of Home, General Administration and any other Department specifically not assigned, Niranjan Pujari gets Finance and Excise while Bikram Keshari Arukha has retained the Forest and Environment and Parliamentary Affairs Department.
Prafulla Kumar Mallik also retains the Steel and Mines and Works Departments while he has also been made Minister of State for Home. Ranendra Pratap Swain has been given Food, Supplies and Consumer Welfare and Co-operation while Padmanabha Behera has been given charge of Planning and Convergence, Commerce and Transport portfolios.
Pratap Jena has been assigned the Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water, Law, Housing and Urban Development Departments, and Arun Kumar Sahoo Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Fisheries and Animal Resources Development and Higher Education.
Sudam Marndi will hold the portfolios of Revenue and Disaster Management, Susanta Singh of Rural Development, Labour and Employees’ State Insurance, Naba Kisore Das Health and Family Welfare and Tukuni Sahu will hold Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti. Among the ministers of state, Jagannath Sarka gets the key portfolios of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare, while Dibya Shankar Mishra will handle the Energy, Industries, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Departments.
Ashok Chandra Panda has been assigned Science and Technology, Public Enterprises, Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disability, Samir Ranjan Das School and Mass Education while Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi bags Tourism, Odia Language, Literature and Culture.
Ten new faces
Ten new faces were inducted to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s council of ministers Wednesday. The new faces are: Telkoi MLA Premananda Nayak, Titlagarh MLA Tukuni Sahu, Nimapara MLA Sameer Dash, Jharsuguda MLA Naba Kishore Das, Kotpad MLA Padmini Dian, Balikuda-Erasama MLA Raghunandan Das, Junagarh MLA Dibyashankar Mishra, Bissam Cuttack MLA Jagannath Saraka, Simulia MLA Jyotiprakash Panigarhi and Kakatpur MLA Tusharkanti Behera. The council of ministers has two women members. They are: Tukuni Sahu in Cabinet rank and Padmini Dian who will hold a Minister of State rank. Veteran party leader Surya Narayan Patro is slated to be the Speaker of the House. The oath-taking ceremony was held at the Exhibition Ground here at 10.30 am. This was the first big event at the Idco exhibition ground which had also suffered extensive damage due to cyclone Fani. However, a few districts like Bhadrak, Jajpur, Sambalpur, Malkangiri, Angul, Nabarangpur, Gajapati, Kendrapara, Sundargarh and Kandhamal remained unrepresented in the council of ministers. Senior most woman legislator Pramila Mallick is expected to be appointed as Government Chief Whip, party sources said.
While the Chief Minister retained the key portfolios of Home, General Administration and any other Department specifically not assigned, Niranjan Pujari gets Finance and Excise while Bikram Keshari Arukha has retained the Forest and Environment and Parliamentary Affairs Department.
Prafulla Kumar Mallik also retains the Steel and Mines and Works Departments while he has also been made Minister of State for Home.
Ranendra Pratap Swain has been given Food, Supplies and Consumer Welfare and Co-operation while Padmanabha Behera has been given charge of Planning and Convergence, Commerce and Transport portfolios.
Pratap Jena has been assigned the Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water, Law, Housing and Urban Development Departments, and Arun Kumar Sahoo Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Fisheries and Animal Resources Development and Higher Education.
Sudam Marndi will hold the portfolios of Revenue and Disaster Management, Susanta Singh of Rural Development, Labour and Employees’ State Insurance, Naba Kisore Das Health and Family Welfare and Tukuni Sahu will hold Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti.
Among the ministers of state, Jagannath Sarka gets the key portfolios of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare, while Dibya Shankar Mishra will handle the Energy, Industries, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Departments.
Ashok Chandra Panda has been assigned Science and Technology, Public Enterprises, Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disability, Samir Ranjan Das School and Mass Education while Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi bags Tourism, Odia Language, Literature and Culture.
Premananda Nayak has got Skill Development and Technical Education, Raghunandan Das Water Resources, Information and Public Relations, and Padmini Dian has been assigned Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts.
Tusharkanti Behera will handle Electronics and Information Technology, Sports and Youth Services.
