Bikram Keshari Arukha, a former speaker of the Odisha Assembly, was one of three new ministers sworn in on Monday to the Naveen Patnaik-led government in Odisha.Governor Ganeshi Lal administered the oath to the new ministers – Arukha and two senior BJD MLAs Sarada Prashad Nayak and Sudam Marandi at the Convention Centre of Lok Seva Bhavan in Bhubaneswar in the presence of Patnaik. The rejig of the Council of Ministers comes ahead of next year’s Assembly and General Elections.
This will be Patnaik’s second Cabinet reshuffle in his fifth term as the chief minister of Odisha.
The Cabinet reshuffle was necessitated after Odisha Speaker Arukha and two cabinet ministers had resigned from their respective posts earlier this month citing personal reasons.
In addition, one position remained unfilled following the January murder of Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das.
Samir Ranjan Dash and Srikant Sahu, two Cabinet Ministers, also tendered their resignations shortly after the Speaker did.
While Srikant Sahu oversaw the state’s Ministry of Labour, Samir Ranjan Dash served as Minister of State for the Ministry of Schools and Mass Education.
On May 15, the day of her late father’s birthday, Deepali Das, a newly elected MLA of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the daughter of murdered Odisha Minister Naba Kishore Das, took the oath of office. After defeating BJP candidate Tankadhar Tripathy, she won the Jharsuguda by-election.
Deepali was fielded by the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
