The Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik, is preparing to reshuffle his cabinet on Monday after the Speaker of the Odisha Assembly and two ministers stepped down, news agency ANI reported.
On May 22, the Convention Centre of Lok Seva Bhavan in Bhubaneswar will host the swearing-in ceremony for the recently appointed council of ministers, according to the predetermined schedule. The event is set to begin at 9.30 am.
Patnaik is preparing to rearrange his cabinet for the second time during his fifth tenure as chief minister of the state.
As the new ministers prepare to take their oath, Governor Ganeshi Lal, the designated administrator, is currently visiting his hometown, Haryana, and is expected to return on Monday. Sources indicate that he has been asked to come back on Sunday, news agency PTI reported.
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School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash and Labour Minister Srikant Sahu tendered their resignations last week. After Naba Kishore Das was killed in January, no one was appointed to replace him as the Health Minister.
Last week, Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha also tendered his resignation, along with two other ministers.
The Parliamentary Affairs Department was actively making arrangements for the upcoming oath taking ceremony scheduled to be held on Monday, PTI reported.
In June of last year, Patnaik reorganized his cabinet.
Currently, the Odisha Council of Ministers has only 19 ministers instead of 22 ministers, which includes the chief minister.
Among the potential candidates for the role of speaker, Prafulla Samal, Debi Prasad Mishra, Amar Prasad Satpathy, and Badri Narayan Patra are current frontrunners.
(With Inputs From ANI, PTI)