Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
Orissa’s new Council of Ministers to take oath tomorrow along with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Raj Bhawan, Bhubaneswar may be well received by the people, because, in selecting his new team Mr. Patnaik has jettisoned some such of his colleagues, whose inclusion could have been very embarrassing.
This is the first time, Mr. Patnaik is believed to have picked up a team of his own choice. And, the choice seems to be an act of application of mind.
The new team will have twelve Cabinet Ministers including the CM and ten Ministers of State.
The Cabinet Ministers will include Dr. Damodar Raut, Debi Prasad Mishra, Jogendra Behera, Bijayashree Rautray, Badrinarayan Patra, Pradeep Maharathi, Bikram Keshari Arukh, Ms. Usha Devi, Pradeep Amat, Puspendra Singhdeo and Lal Bihari Himirika.
Former officer of Indian Information Service Asok Panda, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Arun Sahoo, Sanjay Das Burma, Pranab Prakas Das, Pradeep Panigrahi, Sudam Marandi, Prafulla Mallik, Ramesh Majhi, and Snehangini Chhuria are being taken in as Ministers of State.