As many as 12 Ministers, including 10 new, were sworn in when Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik carried out a major Cabinet reshuffle on Sunday.
While six leaders were sworn in as new Cabinet Ministers and four took oath as new Ministers of State, two sitting Ministers of State were elevated and sworn in as Cabinet Ministers.
The new Ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor S.C. Jamir. The Chief Minister, many of his Ministers and other dignitaries attended the ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan here.
The six who took oath as new Cabinet Ministers are Surjya Narayan Patro, Niranjan Pujari, Prafulla Samal, Maheswar Mohanty, Sashi Bhusan Behera and Pratap Jena.
The four new Ministers of State who were administered oath are Nrusingha Charan Sahu, Ananta Das, Susanta Singh and Chandra Sarathi Behera.
The two Ministers of State who were elevated to the rank of Cabinet Ministers and administered oath of office and secrecy are Prafulla Mallik and Ramesh Chandra Majhi.
The portfolios are to be allocated to the new Ministers later in the day. The portfolios of many sitting Ministers are also likely to be changed, according to sources.
This is Mr. Patnaik’s first Cabinet reshuffle since he took charge as Chief Minister for the fourth consecutive term in May, 2014.
As many as 10 Ministers had resigned on Saturday to pave the way for the Cabinet reshuffle that Mr. Patnaik carried out to give new momentum to his government and revamp the Biju Janata Dal by engaging the leaders who quit as Ministers.
Mr. Pujari, who was sworn in as Cabinet Minister, had resigned as Speaker on Friday. The post of Speaker is still lying vacant.
