Three new ministers, including Sudam Marndi who was removed from the council of ministers in the 2022 reshuffle, were appointed by Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on 22nd May 2023 (Monday).
One of the three ministers who received the oath of office from governor Ganeshi Lal on Monday was Bikram Keshari Arukha, a six-term lawmaker from Bhanjanagar who earlier this month gave up his position as assembly speaker. With the addition of Monday, the council of ministers now has 22 members.
Thereafter, a finance portfolio was given to Bikram Arukha, while Sudam Marndi received a schooling and general education. The state department of labour and employees’ insurance will be led by Sarada Nayak.
According to Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders in Odisha, Arukha was added to the Naveen Patnaik team to help the party gain ground in Ganjam, the chief minister’s home district. After former minister and Gopalpur legislator Pradeep Panigrahi was expelled from the party in 2020 after his detention in a corruption case, a BJD leader claimed the party has been having issues in the area. Once seen as close to Naveen Patnaik, Panigrahi has lately changed her tone to one of scathing criticism of the BJD leadership.
Inducted as Odisha’s minister of revenue and disaster management in 2019, Sudam Marndi, who represents the Bangriposi assembly segment, was fired in the June 2022 reshuffle. Perhaps related to the BJD’s renewed effort to compete with the BJP, which won five of the seven assembly districts under the Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha constituency, a BJD leader claimed that the decision to raise him was made.
Sarada Nayak, a legislator from Rourkela, was specifically chosen to oppose Jual Oram, a senior BJP leader and former Union minister who is spearheading the opposition’s attack in the Sundargarh area. Nayak’s admission, according to a BJD senior, is also a reward for his contribution to the BJD’s unexpected victory in the recently-concluded Jharsuguda assembly byelection.
The expansion of the cabinet on Monday came just days after the resignations of the labour and school ministers of Odisha, Samir Ranjan Dash and Srikant Sahu, in relation to the suicide of a BJD leader who blamed Dash for his death and the accusation of sexual harassment made against Sahu by a female BJD worker.
Prasanta Patnaik