Naveen patnaik inducts 3 new ministers into odisha cabinet

Naveen patnaik inducts 3 new ministers into odisha cabinet

Bikram Arukha was later allocated finance portfolio while Sudam Marndi got school and mass education. Sarada Nayak will head labour & employees’ state insurance department.

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday inducted three new ministers including Sudam Marndi who was dropped from the council of ministers in the 2022 reshuffle.

Among the three ministers administered the oath of office by governor Ganeshi Lal on Monday was a six-time legislator from Bhanjanagar, Bikram Keshari Arukha who resigned as assembly speaker earlier this month. Monday’s expansion takes the strength of the council of ministers to 22.

Bikram Arukha was later allocated finance portfolio while Sudam Marndi got school and mass education. Sarada Nayak will head labour & employees’ state insurance department.

Leaders of Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) said Arukha was inducted into the Naveen Patnaik team to lead the party’s effort to strengthen the party in Ganjam, the home district of the chief minister. A BJD leader said the party has been facing trouble in the region after former minister and Gopalpur legislator Pradeep Panigrahi was expelled from the party in 2020 following his arrest in a corruption case. Panigrahi, once considered close to Naveen Patnaik, has since then turned into a sharp critic of the BJD leadership.

Sudam Marndi, who represents the Bangriposi assembly segment, was inducted as Odisha’s revenue and disaster management minister in 2019 but was dropped in the June 2022 reshuffle. A BJD leader said the decision to elevate him appeared to be linked to the BJD’s renewed attempt to take on the BJP which won five of the seven assembly segments under the Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat.

Rourkela legislator Sarada Nayak was hand-picked to counter senior BJP leader and former Union minister Jual Oram who is leading the opposition’s offensive in the Sundargarh district. A BJD leader said Nayak’s induction is also a reward for his role in BJD’s stunning victory in the just-concluded Jharsuguda assembly bypoll.

Monday’s cabinet expansion came days after Odisha’s school and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash and labour minister Srikant Sahu resigned after landing in controversies over the suicide of a BJD leader who blamed Dash for his death and a female BJD worker’s statement that accused Sahu of sexual harassment.