SURYA NARAYAN PATRO SPEAKER;
PRAMILA MALLICK
GOVT WHIP
Bhubaneswar: The stage is all set for the swearing-in ceremony of Naveen Patnaik who will take oath as Chief Minister of Odisha for a record fifth consecutive term, Wednesday. The ceremony will be held at the Exhibition Ground here at 10.30 am.
Governor Ganeshi Lal will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the 21- member council of ministers including the Chief Minister. According to a press statement from Raj Bhawan, the Governor has appointed 11 cabinet ministers and nine ministers of state on the recommendation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Senior BJD legislators Naba Kishore Das from Jharsuguda, Prafulla Mallik from Dhenkanal, Ranendra Pratap Swain and Pratap Jena from Cuttack district, Arun Sahoo from Nayagarh, Padmanav Behera and Niranjan Pujari from Sonepur, Bikram Keshari Arukh from Ganjam, Sushant Singh from Bargarh, Tukuni Sahu from Bolangir and Sudam Marndi from Mayurbhanj have got cabinet rank.
Ashok Panda from Khurda, Samir Das and Tusharkanti Behera from Puri, and Jyoti Prakash Panigrahy from Balsore have been placed as ministers of state (MoS).
Raghunandan Das, who defeated senior BJP leader Damodar Rout from Balikuda-Erasama, has found a place as an MoS.
Besides, Junagarh MLA Dibyashankar Mishra, Kotpad legislator Padmini Dian, Premananda Nayak from Keonjhar and Jagannath Sarka from Rayagada districts will be sworn-in as MoS.
Senior BJD leaders Pradeep Panigrahi, Pradip Amat, Snehangini Churia, Usha Devi, Prafulla Samal, PK Deb, Badri Narayan Patra, Pradeep Maharathy and Debi Prasad Mishra have been kept out of the ministry.
There is no minister from a few districts like Bhadrak, Jajpur, Sambalpur, Malkangiri, Angul, Nabarangpur, Gajapati, Kendrapara, Sundargarh and Kandhamal.
Senior MLA Surya Narayan Patro will be the Speaker of the 16th Assembly while senior most woman legislator Pramila Mallick will be appointed as government chief whip, party sources said.
Naveen’s sister Gita Mehta will join Wednesday’s swearing-in ceremony.
Sources said industry captains Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, Jindal Steel & Power chairman Naveen Jindal, ITC chairman Sanjiv Puri, Apollo Hospitals Group’s Sangita Reddy, Tata Steel’s TV Narendran, Tech Mahindra CEO Chander Prakash Gurnani, Mindtree’s KK Natarajan, Dalmia Bharat’s Puneet Dalmia, Ramco Group’s PR Venketrama Raja, Asian Heart Institute MD Ramakant Panda are likely to attend the oath-taking ceremony.
Eminent sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra, veteran singer Prafulla Kar and noted dancer Priyambada Mohanty have also been invited to the ceremony.