Bhubaneswar: Naveen Patnaik’s fifth-term as chief minister begins with the swereing-in of 21 member minister, here on Wednesday.
The Odisha governor, Ganeshi Lal, administered the oath of offices to Naveen Patnaik as chief minister along with 11 as cabinet minister and 9 as minister of state(MoS).
The sweraing-in-ceremony, which was held for the first time outside the Governor’s House, was organised in a make-shift air conditioned hall erected by event management company inside the Idco Exhibition Ground.
Chief minister’s sister Gita Mehta and brother Prem Patnaik graced the occasion. Among other dignitaries industrialists TV Narendran, Naveen Jindal, national media personalities Prabhu Chwla, R Prasanan attended the function.
Naveen Patnaik’s BJD has scored a resounding victory in the state assembly elections by winning 112 of the 146 seats elections for which was held recently.
Cabinet Ministers:
- Prafulla Mallik
- Bikram Keshari Arukha
- Niranjan Pujari
- Ranendra Pratap Swain
- Padmanabha Behera
- Pratap Jena
- Arun Kumar Sahoo
- Sudam Marandi
- Susanta Singh
- Naba Kishore Das
- Tukuni Sahu
Ministers of State:
- Padmini Dian
- Ashok Chandra Panda
- Samir Ranjan Das
- Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi
- Dibya Shankar Mishra
- Premananda Nayak
- Raghunandan Das
- Tusharkanti Behera
- Jagannath Saraka
The portfolios to the new ministers will be distribution by this evening as the chief minister has convened the meeting of the Council of Ministers and also the Cabinet today. The first cabinet is expected to adopt the party’s election manifesto as a government commitment and announce distribution of Kalia financial assistance to the left out farmers. The chief minister had promised the farmers of the state that the two tranches of Kalia money would be transfered to their account on the first day of his government formation. The distribution of Kalia money was stopped by the Election Commission on a complaint filed by the opposition BJP during the election time.
