A 21-member Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ministry headed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik was sworn in by the Orissa governor M C Bhandare at Raj Bhawan here today. There are 10 new faces in the ministry of which two are of cabinet rank and 8 in the ministers of state rank.
The governor first administered the oath of office and secrecy to the chief minister. He was followed by cabinet minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai, who worked as the finance minister in the previous government and other ministers.
The swearing-in ceremony which started at 11.35 am continued for about 1 hour and 10 minutes. In the new ministry, while 11 have been given cabinet rank, nine others will function as minister of state.
The cabinet ministers are Prafulla Chandra Ghadai, Damodar Rout, A U Singhdeo, S N Patro, Raghunath Mohanty, Pramilla Mallick, Devi Prasad Misra, Prasanna Acharya, Prafulla Samal, Bijay ranjan Singh Bariah and Bikram Keshare Arukh.
The ministers of state list included Sanjeev Kumar Sahoo, Badri Narayan Patro, Sarada Prasad Nayak, Puspendra Kumar Singhdeo, Ramesh Chandra majhi, Pratap Jena, Anjali Behera, Atanu Sabyasachi, Praveen Chandra Bhanjdeo.
The chief minister Naveen Patnaik, A U Singhdeo, Bijay ranjan Singh Bariah and Praveen Chandra Bhanjdeo took their oath in English. Others took oath in Oriya.
Talking to the media after taking over as the chief minister for the consecutive third time, Patnaik said, the people of the state have bestowed great responsibilities and the government will have to work hard to fulfill their hopes and aspirations.
