BHUBANESWAR: Three new ministers have been inducted into Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's cabinet. Governor Ganeshi Lal administered the oath of office to the three earlier at the convention centre of the Lok Seva Bhavan here on Monday.
Senior BJD leader and former Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha will be the new finance minister while Sudam Marndi has been entrusted with the school and mass education portfolio. Former minister Sarada Nayak has been given the labour portfolio.
Earlier, the finance portfolio was with Niranjan Pujari. He was given additional charge of the health portfolio after the death of Naba Kishore Das. Pujari will now have health and parliamentary affairs portfolios with him.
School and mass education and labour portfolios had fallen vacant after the resignation of Samir Mohanty and Srikant Sahu from their posts. Marndi and Nayak have now filled up the vacancies respectively.
This is Naveen’s second Cabinet reshuffle in his fifth term as the chief minister of the state and probably the last before the 2024 twin polls. With the induction of these former ministers, the number of ministers in Odisha’s Council of Ministers has gone up to 22. The BJD hopes to strengthen its base in Ganjam, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh districts.
However, a decision is yet to be taken on the next Speaker. Though speculation is rife that a senior woman legislator will be given the post for the first time in the history of the state, the names of several senior leaders of the BJD including Prafulla Samal, Debi Prasad Mishra, Amar Prasad Satpathy and Badri Narayan Patra are also doing the rounds for the post of Speaker.