Odisha govt releases list of newly inducted Council of Ministers

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The Odisha government on Wednesday released a list of newly appointed Cabinet ministers, Ministers of State (Independent charge) and a Minister of State and their portfolios.

This comes on a day when Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Naveen Patnaik took oath for the fifth consecutive term as the Chief Minister of the state.

20 members of the new Council of Ministers, who have been allotted portfolios in the ministry, also took oath along with Patnaik at the swearing-in ceremony held in Raj Bhavan.

Patnaik will handle the General Administration and Public Grievance.

Those who took oath as the Cabinet Ministers include, Niranjan Pujari, Bikram Keshari Arukha, Prafulla Kumar Mallik, Padmanabha Behera, Pratap Jena, Arun Kumar Sahoo, Sudam Marndi, Susanta Singh, Naba Kishore Das, Takuni Sahu.

While Niranjan Pujari has been given the portfolio of finance and Excise, Naba Kishore Das has been given Health and Family Welfare. Sudam Marndi will handle the Revenue and Disaster Management.

Those who were inducted as the Ministers of State (Independent charge) were Jagannath Sarka, Dibya Shankar Mishra, Ashok Chandra Panda, Samir Ranjan Das, Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Premananda Nayak, Raghunandan Das, Padmini Dian and Tusharkanti Behera.

Prafulla Kumar Mallik has been given the portfolio of Minister of State for Home Affairs, and Steel and Mines.

Elections for the 147 seats in the Odisha Legislative Assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats were held simultaneously in the state. The BJD managed to retain 112 seats securing another term for Patnaik in the CM chair.