Balasore: Minutes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted Balasore MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi into his ministry, an air of excitement, joy and celebration spread at his native village Nainathpur-Kahalia under Nilagiri block and across Balasore district.
He was allocated MSME and fisheries departments as a state minister.
Scores of his supporters, well wishers and BJP cadre burst crackers and distributed sweets to people.
They were happy that the district was again represented in Parliament after five years.
Congress MP Srikant Jena was a Union minister during the UPA government before 2014.
Locals expect that multiple issues and demands of the district and the state will be redressed with Sarangi becoming a Union minister.
Locals watched him taking oath on TV Thursday when the 64-year-old man, lanky, bearded and bespectacled MP with his hair noticeably unkempt, walked on stage amid thunderous applause at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Days after his victory, photos of him packing a simple bag in his modest thatched house went viral in social media.
Sarangi was twice elected to Odisha Assembly. In 2004, he was elected as a BJP candidate and later as an Independent in 2009 from Nilagiri Assembly constituency.
In 2019 general election, he was pitted against two heavy weights like BJD nominee Rabindra Jena and Congress nominee Navajyoti Patnaik.
Sarangi was associated with RSS, Bajrang Dal and VHP from his college days.
Nilagiri MLA and BJP leader Sukant Nayak expressed his happiness over Sarangi being inducted into the Union ministry.