TNI Bureau: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is known for giving shocks and surprises, did not disappoint this time. He dropped five top Ministers and inducted 9 more, including Dr. Damodar Rout, Bijayashree Routray, Kalpataru Das, Arun Sahu and Rabi Narayan Nanda.
Prafulla Ghadei, who held the most important Finance portfolio, was the surprising omission. He reportedly paid the price for being close to Pyari Mohan Mohapatra. Others also faced the same fate.
Apart from Prafulla Ghadei, Prafulla Samal, Pratap Jena, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak and Pushpendra Singhdeo were also dropped from the cabinet. The Odisha Cabinet now has 13 Cabinet Ministers (including the CM) and 8 Ministers of State (Independent Charge).
Here’s the List of Ministers in Odisha:
Chief Minister
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Naveen Patnaik – Home, General Administration, Works and Water Resources.
Cabinet Ministers
Prasanna Acharya – Finance, Public Enterprises
Dr. Damodar Rout – Health & Family Welfare, MSME
Bikram Arukh – Rural Development & Cooperation
Maheswar Mohanty – Tourism & Culture, Planning & Coordination
Bijayshree Routray – Forest & Environment, Labour, ESI
Debi Prasad Mihsra – Agriculture, Fisheries & Animal Resources Development
Lal Bihari Himirika -ST & SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes
Kalpataru Das – Panchayati Raj and Parliamentary Affairs
Raghunath Mohanty – Housing & Urban Development, Law and Information Technology
Surya Narayan Patro – Revenue & Disaster Management
Usha Devi – Women & Child Development
Niranjan Pujari – Industries and Excise
Ministers of State with lndependent Charge
Arun Kumar Sahu – Energy and Information & Public Relations
Badri Narayan Patra – Higher Education
Pratap Keshari Deb – Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare, Employment & Technical Education & Training
Rabi Narayan Nanda – School & Mass Education
Ramesh Chandra Majhi – Sports & Youth Services, Science & Technology and Public
Grievances & Pension Administration
Sarojini Hembram – Textile, Handloom & Handicrafts
Subrat Tarai – Commerce & Transport
Rajanikant Singh – Mines & Steel