BHUBANESWAR: After dithering for months, chief minister Naveen Patnaik would expand his ministry on Thursday afternoon. "Ministry expansion will be held today. The new ministers will be sworn in this afternoon at Raj Bhavan," Naveen told media persons after weeks of suspense over when he would make changes to his ministry.
Certain ministers in the ruling BJD had come under the microscope in the wake of failed coup attempted by Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra against Naveen on May 29. Raj Bhavan sources said they had received communication from the chief minister's office to make arrangements for the swearing-in at around 2:15pm, but the list of new ministers who would take oath was still awaited.
Though there was no official confirmation yet, BJD sources said Naveen was likely to drop five ministers, including Prafulla Ghadai (finance), Prafulla Samal (culture), Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak (energy), Pratap Jena (school and mass education) and Pushpendra Singhdeo (labour and employment). Nine new ministers will be inducted, sources said.
Those expected to make an entry include Kalpataru Das, Sarojini Hembram, Bijayshree Routray and Damodar Rout. Routray and Rout were formerly ministers and would be staging a comeback.
Besides, Pravat Tripathy and Sanjay Dasburma would take over as the government chief whip and government deputy chief whip respectively, sources said. The expansion exercise, BJD sources noted, made apparent Naveen's bid to clip the wings of those perceived to be close to Pyari, who had last week dropped a threat that if his 'loyalists' were removed from the ministry, then Naveen shall have 'to go'.
Some of those who have been rewarded with a berth in the ministry had played a key role in aborting the alleged May 29 coup that was attempted when Naveen was on a trip to England. Following the failed coup, Naveen had sacked Sanjib Sahu, Anjali Behera and Sarada Nayak from his ministry, taking the total vacancies to five.
Earlier this year, Pradeep Maharathy and A U Singhdeo had quit as ministers. Going by the Sarkaria Commission recommendations, the Odisha ministry can have a maximum strength of 22. Naveen has been the CM of the state since March, 2000, and begun his third term in May, 2009.