Bhubaneswar. In a minor reshuffle, three new members took oath as cabinet ministers in the Odisha cabinet on Monday.
Governor Professor Ganeshi Lal administered the oath of office and secrecy to cabinet ministers Bikram Keshari Arukh, Sharda Nayak and Sudan Marandi at a swearing-in ceremony held at Lokseva Bhavan here. The function was attended by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, members of the Council of Ministers and several top administrative officials. Mr. Arukh, Mr. Nayak and Mr. Marandi were former ministers and have been re-inducted into the cabinet this time.
Arukh, a stalwart leader of Bijum Janata Dal (BJD) and a six-time MLA from Bhanja Nagar constituency, has handled several important portfolios in the Council of Ministers since 2009. He was dropped from the Council of Ministers during the last cabinet reshuffle in June 2022. And the speaker was made. He had resigned from the Speaker’s post on May 12. Sharda Naik, a three-time BJD MLA from Rourkela, was elected to the state assembly in 2004, 2009 and 2019. He has held the charge of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development from 2009 to 2012 in the Naveen Patnaik government.
Shri Marandi started his political career as a JMM candidate and was elected twice to the State Legislative Assembly and once to the Lok Sabha. He later joined the BJD and was elected to the state assembly twice in 2014 and 2019 as a BJD candidate from Bangiriposi assembly constituency in Mayurbhanja district. He was the Minister of State in the Naveen Patnaik government from 2014 to 17 and in 2019 was the Minister of Revenue and Disaster Management with cabinet rank. He was dropped from the ministry during the cabinet reshuffle in June 2022.
Political analysts said the three cabinet ministers have been inducted into the Council of Ministers to strengthen the party organization in three districts – Mayurbhanj, Ganjam and Sundargarh – keeping in mind the 2024 general elections. Significantly, former Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das was killed by a police officer on January 29 last and two ministers – Sameer Ranjan Das and Shrikant Sahu – resigned from the Council of Ministers on May 12 last.
Inputs From: public relations
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