Two months after the coup bid against him went kaput, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday rejigged his Cabinet and finally ended rounds of political uncertainties.
Trying to shed the last vestige of his advisor-turned-foe Pyarimohan Mohapatra, Naveen dropped five loyalists of the suspended Rajya Sabha member and inducted six new faces.
The Pyari acolytes, who were shown the door, were Finance Minister Prafulla Ghadei, Tourism and Culture and Cooperation Minister Prafulla Samal, Minister of State for School and Mass Education Pratap Jena, Minister of State for Energy Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak and Minister of State for Labour and Employment Puspendra Singhdeo.
This is seen as a cool retaliation after Pyari’s taunting that Naveen too will go if his supporters are axed. And as if to complement it, known Pyari- baiter Damodar Rout was taken back as a Cabinet Minister. Rout and Bijayshree Routray are now the two old faces of the BJD making a comeback. Lady Luck also finally smiled on four-time MLA from Dharmasala Kalpataru Das who was given a Cabinet berth.
Striking a balance between the old and the young, the Chief Minister inducted six new faces, including Aul MLA Pratap Keshari Deb, Angul MLA Rajanikant Singh, Nayagarh MLA Arun Sahu, Bangiriposhi MLA Sarojini Hembram, daughter of former minister Chaitanya Prasad Majhi, and Raghunathpali MLA Subrat Tarai. Hembram and Tarai are first-timers in the Assembly.
Naveen made a huge overhaul in portfolio allotments.
Considered to be a favourite, Raghunath Mohanty was stripped of all the powerful portfolios like Industries, Steel and Mines and Parliamentary Affairs. He was given Housing and Urban Development and Information Technology. A greenhorn like Rajanikant was given the weighty portfolio of Steel and Mines.
The newly-inducted Kalpataru got the prestigious Panchayati Raj and Parliamentary Affairs. Former Panchayati Raj Minister Maheswar Mohanty got less significant portfolios like Tourism and Culture and Planning and Coordination,
Informed sources said the Chief Minister personally told the five dropped ministers to send in their resignations to him on Wednesday evening. He forwarded the resignation letters to Governor MC Bhandare for acceptance on Thursday morning.
The rejig was done in a most-secretive way. The news was known only when the Chief Minister informed the media about it at the Secretariat in the morning. Naveen reached the Secretariat at about 9.30 am and informed the media about the swearing-in ceremony in the afternoon.
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