Bhubaneswar: Hours after the results of the Odisha Legislative Assembly election were declared, elected MLAs of Biju Janata Dal were seen making beelines before Naveen Niwas with a view to get berths in the new Council of Ministers. Naveen Patnaik is likely to take oath along with his Cabinet ministers May 27 (Monday).
Of the 146 Assembly seats that went for polls, BJD secured 112 seats, while the BJP and Congress bagged 23 and nine seats respectively. The Communist Party of India-Marxist won the Bonai seat, while the Rayagada seat went to an Independent candidate. BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik won both the Hinjili and Bijepur seats.
Meanwhile, Governor Ganeshi Lal has accepted the resignation of the Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers in order to facilitate the formation of a new Council of Ministers. The Governor has requested Naveen and his present Council of Ministers to continue in office till the new Council of Ministers are sworn in, sources said.
In this situation, speculations are rife over the names of leaders who would be lucky to get berths in the new Council of Ministers. Many elected MLAs, including Surya Narayan Patro, Pradeep Maharathy, Samir Das, Umakanta Samantaray, Prasant Jagdev and sons of Bijayshree Routray & Prabhat Biswal rushed were seen at Naveen Niwas.
However, before selecting the Cabinet members, the BJD is likely to hold its first legislature party meeting here Saturday to chalk out the party’s strategy, a source said.
Speculations are doing the round that the new Council of Ministers will comprise old and new faces. The party is likely to give importance to women leaders as the party has mulled reserving 33 per cent seats for women in the Assembly and Parliament.
Names of some senior leaders such as Surya Patro, Pranab Prakash Das, Bikram Keshari Arukh, Ranendra Pratap Swain, Sarada Nayak, Pradip Amat, Prafulla Mallick, Bhupinder Singh, Rajnikant Singh, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Naba Das, Pramila Mallick, Pratap Deb, Pratap Jena and Debi Prasad Mishra are doing rounds for berths in the Cabinet.
On the other hand, it is being speculated that Samir Das, Arun Sahoo, Snehangini Churia, Sushant Singh, Kishore Mohanty, Pradip Panigrahi, Manohar Randhari, Jagannath Saraka, Chandra Sarathi Behera, Ashok Panda and Sudam Marandi may get minister of state portfolios.
After meeting Naveen, Patro said that the BJD president will take final call on selecting his new Cabinet members.
“Irrespective of the role given to me, I discharged with utmost dedication. I don’t want to speculate on what new role will be given to me as it is the prerogative of the party president,” said Debi Prasad Mishra.
Names of Pradip Amat, Niranjan Pujari, Kishore Mohanty and Debi Prasad Mishra are also doing the rounds for the post of Speaker of the 16th Assembly.
Meanwhile, the Governor is likely to convene the Budget session of the Assembly in June. According to sources, the first session of the new Assembly is likely to start from June 11 and continue till August 3 with an interval. The full Budget is likely to be presented June 17.
