Odisha CM may reshuffle his cabinet on Monday, to fill three vacancies

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is likely to reshuffle his cabinet on Monday, official sources said.

There are three vacancies in the state cabinet, and the new ministers are likely to be inducted at a simple ceremony around 9.30 am on Monday at the Lok Seva Bhawan, they said.

This will be Patnaik's second cabinet reshuffle in his fifth term as the chief minister of the state.

Governor Ganeshi Lal, who will administer the oath to the new ministers, is at present on a visit to his home state, Haryana, and is scheduled to return on Monday. But, he has been requested to return on Sunday, sources said.

 

Last week, School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash and Labour Minister Srikant Sahu resigned. No appointment was made in place of Health Minister Naba Kishore Das, who was assassinated in January.

Along with the two ministers, Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha also resigned last week.

The Parliamentary Affairs Department was preparing in full swing for the swearing-in ceremony on Monday. Invitation cards were being printed and the convention center of Lok Seva Bhawan was being decorated, the sources said.

Patnaik reshuffled his cabinet in June last year.

The Odisha's Council of Ministers can have 22 ministers, including the chief minister, but has 19 ministers at present.

Prafulla Samal, Debi Prasad Mishra, Amar Prasad Satpathy and Badri Narayan Patra are frontrunners for the speaker's post.

It is also being speculated that Arukha, a six-time MLA, may be inducted into the cabinet, due to which he was asked to resign. The other probable names are Sushant Singh, Sarada Nayak and Umakanta Samantray.

The possibility of Dipali Das, the daughter of the assassinated minister who won the Jharsuguda bypoll, getting a place in the cabinet could not be discounted by a section of BJD insiders.