Gunupur/Muniguda: As BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik started his 5th innings as Chief Minister of Odisha, Jagannath Saraka was sworn-in as a minister of state. He took the oath of office and secrecy Wednesday.
Saraka was elected MLA from the Bissam Cuttack Assembly constituency. He is the minister of state for SC/ST development, minorities and backward classes welfare.
This has spread cheer in Bissam Cuttack. Good wishes and greetings from local leaders and party workers are reaching him from every nook and corner of Rayagada district.
Saraka was born in Munda village of Jhigidi panchayat in Bissam Cuttack block in Rayagada district. He completed degree from Rayagada College in 1995. Then he studied Law in Jeypore from 1997 to 2000. In 2002, he started his career as an advocate.
Saraka has worked at the All India Radio’s Jeypore station as coordinator for a tribal language programme.
He joined active politics and contested to the post of a samiti member in 1997. He was elected sarpanch in 2002. Later, he was elected as zilla parishad member in 2007 and as Rayagada zilla parishad chairman.
Saraka contested as an MLA on a BJD ticket in 2009 and was defeated by just 349 votes. In the 2014 Assembly elections he won from Bissam Cuttack Assembly constituency as a BJD candidate defeating Dambarudhar Ulaka of the Congress.
Born in a farming family, he continued studies with much difficulty. He used to help his father in farming. Saraka used to plough his field even when he was the MLA of Bissam Cuttack in 2014.