A new cabinet took oath in Odisha on Sunday, a day after all 20 ministers in the state resigned on Saturday to pave way for a reshuffle in the ministry.
A total of 21 Ministers, including 13 Cabinet and 8 Minister of State (Independent charge), took oath in the Naveen Patnaik-led state council of ministers.
The council of ministers inducted five women ministers.
The reshuffle has been done to give an opportunity to new faces and introduce a combination of young and experienced leaders from BJD into the cabinet ahead of the 2024 general and assembly elections.
The swearing-in ceremony took place in the new convention centre of Lok Seva Bhawan in Bhubaneswar.
Jagannath Saraka, Niranjan Pujari, Ranendra Pratap Swain, Prafulla Kumar Mallik, Pratap Keshari Deb and Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak are among Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLAs who took oath as new cabinet ministers. Further, Pradip Kumar Amat, Naba Kisore Das, Ashok Chandra Panda and Rajendra Dholakia were also administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor Ganeshi Lal at the ceremony.
The MLAs who were inducted as Minister of State (Independent charge) include Samir Ranjan Dash, Aswini Kumar Patra, Pritiranjan Gharai, Srikanta Sahu, Tusharkanti Behera, Rohit Pujari, Rita Sahu and Basanti Hembram.
The Naveen Patnaik government had completed three years of its fifth consecutive term as the Chief Minister of Odisha on May 29.
