Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the 2024 Assembly elections, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has reshuffled his cabinet. A total of 21 MLAs were sworn in today to replace the ministers who resigned after being asked by the chief minister. The new cabinet, which focuses on youth, will include five women ministers. The new cabinet was formed following the resignation of 20 ministers in Odisha on Saturday.
In the run-up to the 2024 general and assembly elections, the reshuffle was aimed at bringing in new faces and bringing in young and experienced leaders from the BJD into the cabinet. The swearing-in ceremony was held at the new Convention Center at Lok Seva Bhavan in Bhubaneswar.
A total of 21 ministers, including 13 cabinet ministers and eight cabinet ministers were sworn in in the state cabinet headed by Naveen Patnaik.
Five women MLAs, including three cabinet ministers, have been included in the cabinet. In the last cabinet, there were only two women in the cabinet.
Prameela Mallik, Usha Devi and Tukuni Sahu are the new women ministers.
Jagannath Saraka, Niranjan Pujari, Ranendra Pratap Swain, Prafulla Kumar Mallik, Pratap Kesari Deb and Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak were also sworn in as new ministers among Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLAs. In addition, Governor Ganesh Lal administered the oath of office to Pradeep Kumar Amat, Naba Kishore Das, Ashok Chandra Panda and Rajendra Dholakia.
Sameer Ranjan Dash, Ashwini Kumar Patra, Preethi Ranjan Gharai, Sreekanta Sahu, Thusharkanthi Behra, Rohit Pujari, Rita Sahu and Basanti Hembram were among the MLAs who were included as ministers (independent charge).
It is reported that ministers out of the cabinet are likely to get important responsibilities next time.
