Bhubaneswar: Former Odisha Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha was among three new ministers who were on Monday sworn into the Odisha cabinet led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Governor Ganeshi Lal administered the oath to the new ministers - Arukha and two senior BJD MLAs Sarada Prashad Nayak and Sudam Marandi at the Convention Centre of Lok Seva Bhavan in Bhubaneswar in the presence of Patnaik.
The rejig of the Council of Ministers comes ahead of next year's Assembly and General Elections. This will be Patnaik's second Cabinet reshuffle in his fifth term as the chief minister of Odisha.
The Cabinet reshuffle was necessitated after Odisha Speaker Arukha and two cabinet ministers had resigned from their respective posts earlier this month citing personal reasons.
Apart from that there was one post lying vacant after the assassination of Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das was assassinated in January. Soon after the Speaker sent his resignation, two Cabinet Ministers namely Samir Ranjan Dash and Srikant Sahu also resigned.
Samir Ranjan Dash was the Minister of State in the Ministry of School and Mass Education while Srikant Sahu handled the Ministry of Labour in the state. It is worth mentioning that the newly elected MLA of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and daughter of slain Odisha Minister Naba Kishore Das, Deepali Das, took oath on May 15, the day of her late father's birthday. She won the Jharsuguda by-election after defeating BJP candidate Tankadhar Tripathy Biju Janata Dal (BJD) fielded Deepali in the constituency of her father.