Odisha News Today: Two in Odisha resignation of ministers After three posts in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s cabinet fell vacant, MLAs of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) have started jostling to become ministers ahead of next year’s general elections. Odisha Council of Ministers can have 22 ministers including the Chief Minister, but now there are 19 ministers.
Cabinet reshuffle possible in Odisha
Health Minister in January this year The murder of Nab Kishore Das The post was already vacant after two ministers of the state – Sameer Das (School and Mass Education) and Shrikant Sahu (Labour) resigned from their posts on Friday. A senior party leader said that Patnaik may soon fill the three vacant posts. He said that the Chief Minister can also make a small reshuffle in his cabinet to fill the vacant posts.
Fearing CM’s call, many ministers switched off mobile
A section of ministers is also apprehensive that the Chief Minister may ask them to resign. The party leader said, “Several ministers have switched off their mobile phones fearing a possible call from the chief minister’s residence, Naveen Niwas.” Apart from this, some senior and experienced leaders are also willing to become the Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly in the upcoming elections, willing to vacate their seats for their sons. Assembly Speaker BK Arukha had resigned from the post on Friday.
Naveen Patnaik may include BK Arukha in the cabinet
Prafulla Samal, Devi Prasad Mishra, Amar Prasad Satpathy and Badri Narayan are eligible for the post of Assembly Speaker. Similarly, there is discussion of some names for the post of minister. A section of leaders believe that Patnaik may induct six-time MLA BK Arukha into the cabinet. Apart from them, other possible candidates are Sushant Singh and Sharda Nayak from the western region and Umakant Samantre from Puri district.
Odisha: BJD’s Deepali Das defeats BJP’s Tankadhar Tripathi in Jharsuguda, Congress’s deposit forfeited
Dipali Das likely to become minister
Some party leaders also did not rule out the possibility of Deepali Das, who won the Jharsuguda bypoll on Saturday, becoming a minister as her late father Naba Kishore Das was the health minister. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has given charge of School and Mass Education Department and Labor Department to Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Pramila Malik. Official sources said that he has been given additional charge of two departments.
Governor Ganeshi Lal will return to Bhubaneswar on May 22
However, no BJD leader could tell about the date of possible reshuffle in the Naveen Patnaik ministry, as Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal is on a tour of his home state Haryana and is expected to return to Bhubaneswar on May 22.
Video: Nitish Kumar met Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, see what CM said )dipali das
