Ahead of the much-awaited Cabinet reshuffle Sunday, all members of the Naveen Patnaik’s Council of Ministers have submitted their resignations today. The rejig has come about at a time when the ruling Biju Janata Dal government completed its three years of its fifth term in office on 29 May 2022, The reshuffle is touted to be a major exercise to strengthen and rejuvenate the party ahead of the 2024 general elections.
All 20 ministers have tendered their resignations. For the first time, CM Naveen is going to make a complete revamp of his cabinet.
Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal, who is on a visit to Puri, has been informed about the programme which will be held at the state secretariat, the Lok Seva Bhavan.
The new ministers will take the oath of office at 11.45 am at a function to be held at the Convention Centre on the premises of the Lok Seva Bhavan on Sunday, a highly placed source in the Raj Bhavan informed.
The process needs to be completed by Monday as the governor is scheduled to go outside Odisha after two days.
Patnaik, a fifth term chief minister, is also scheduled to visit Rome and Dubai from June 20 and he wants to revamp the ministry before his departure, the CMO sources said.
Speculation are abuzz that Pradip Amat and Latika Pradhan will get ministerial berths, sources informed.
Others who are likely to get ministerial berths are:
- Surjya Narayan Patro from Ganjam
- Badri Narayan Patra from Keonjhar
- Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak from Kendrapara
- Basanti Hembram from Mayurbhanj
- Aswini Patra from Balasore
- Pritiranjan Ghadai from Jajpur
- Rohit Pujari from Sambalpur
- Manohar Gandhari from Nabarangpur
Ministers who courted controversy
- Bikram Keshari Arukha
- Ranendra Pratap Swain
- Pratap Jena
- Arun Sahoo
- Dibya Shankar Mishra
Till the last report came in, Nuapada MLA Rajendra Dholakia, Aul MLA Pratap Deb, Titlagarh MLA Tukuni Sahu, Binjharpur MLA Pramilla Mallik, Jagatsinghpur MLA Prasanta Kumar Muduli, Mahakalpara MLA Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Jaleswar MLA Ashwini Patra, Rairakhol MLA Rohit Pujari, Nimapara MLA Samir Dash and Polasara MLA Srikant Sahu have received phone calls from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
Jharsuguda MLA Naba Kishore Das, Athagarh MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain, Ekamra MLA Ashok Ch Panda, Kamakhyanagar MLA Prafulla Kumar Mallik, Sonepur MLA Niranjan Pujari, Chikiti MLA Usha Devi, Bijepur MLA Rita Sahu, Sukinda MLA Pritiranjan Gharai and Boudh MLA Pradip Amat also received phone calls from CMO office. They are likely to get berth in Naveen Patnaik's new council of ministers.
Political analysts feel that such a move has been taken to ensure that there will be no conflict or indifference among the outgoing ministers. Soon after the reshuffle, some senior leaders, who were dropped from the cabinet, will be given key roles in the organisation aiming at the 2024 elections.
Patnaik started his fifth innings as Odisha Chief Minister on May 29, 2019. The reshuffle was delayed for a few months in view of the panchayat and urban elections, and then the Brajarajnagar bypoll, a BJD leader said. Notably, the ruling party in Odisha has registered landslide victories in both panchayat and urban polls.