Lagatar24 Desk
Bhubaneswar, May 22: Bikram Keshari Arukha, a former speaker of the Odisha Assembly, was one of three new ministers sworn in on Monday to the Naveen Patnaik-led cabinet in Odisha.
Arukha and two senior BJD MLAs, Sarada Prashad Nayak and Sudam Marandi, were sworn in as ministers by Governor Ganeshi Lal in the presence of CM Patnaik at the Convention Centre of Lok Seva Bhavan in Bhubaneswar.
The Council of Ministers has been reconfigured in advance of the Assembly and General Elections next year.
During his fifth tenure as chief minister of Odisha, Patnaik reorganised his Cabinet for the second time.
The resignations of Odisha Speaker Arukha and two cabinet members earlier this month for personal reasons made a reorganisation of the Cabinet necessary.
In addition, one position remained unfilled following the January murder of Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das.
Samir Ranjan Dash and Srikant Sahu, two Cabinet Ministers, also tendered their resignations shortly after the Speaker did.
While Srikant Sahu oversaw the state’s Ministry of Labour, Samir Ranjan Dash served as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Schools and Mass Education.
On May 15, the day of her late father’s birthday, Deepali Das, a newly elected MLA of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the daughter of slain Odisha Minister Naba Kishore Das, took the oath of office. After defeating BJP candidate Tankadhar Tripathy, she won the Jharsuguda by-election.
Deepali was a candidate for the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in her father’s constituency.
