Bhubaneswar: Barring Deputy Chief Minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, none of the 15 council of ministers including Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi who were sworn in Wednesday, have any experience as ministers in the state.
Out of 16 ministers, only five including the Chief Minister were members of the last assembly while the remaining eleven were first-timers including even Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida who was elected to the Assembly from Nimapara Assembly seat.
The new council of ministers of the BJP government is represented from 13 of the 30 districts, and four of them belong to ST, two from SC and the remaining ten belong to the general caste.
Region-wise, four ministers were from Western Odisha including Deputy Chief Minister KV Singh Deo, three from South Odisha, and as many from north Odisha including Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.
Highest number of six ministers were from coastal Odisha which includes Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida.
Out of eight Cabinet ministers, only two -Mukesh Mahaling and Nityananda Gond were members of the last Assembly while the rest six were new entrants.
Similarly, of the five ministers of state with independent charge who were sworn in today, two were members of the last Assembly while the rest three were debutantes.
Two Deputy Chief Ministers were sworn in the state almost after a gap of 29 years. In 1995 during the Congress government headed by JB Pattnaik, two Deputy Chief Ministers – Basant Kumar Biswal and Hemananda Biswal were appointed for a brief period after JB Pattnaik was asked by the Congress High Command to step down from the post.
While Basant Biswal remained as the Deputy Chief Minister from March 15, 1995 to February 17,1999, Hemananda Biswal served from March 15 ,1995 to May 9,1998.
The new cabinet was represented from 13 districts of the state with two each from Ganjam and Mayurbhanj district while one each from Keonjhar, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Nabarangpur, Dhenkanal, Khordha, Bolangir, Bhadrak and Puri district.
UNI
