Patnaik takes oath as CM of Odisha for record 5th term

Bhubaneswar, May 29

Naveen Patnaik, who led his Biju Janata Dal to a landslide victory in the Assembly elections, took oath as the Chief Minister of Odisha for a record fifth consecutive term today.

Patnaik was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Ganeshi Lal here. Twenty newly elected BJD MLAs also took oath as ministers, including 11 of Cabinet rank, at the swearing-in ceremony. Patnaik later distributed portfolios to new ministers.

President Ram Nath Kovind and PM Narendra Modi congratulated Patnaik.

Union Minister and senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan said he was hopeful the state government would “proactively support the Centre in uplifting the lives of Odia people”.

The BJD, which won 112 seats in the 147-member Assembly, has been in power in Odisha since 2000. It is for the first time that the 72-year-old Patnaik, who won from his home turf Hinjili in Ganjam district and Bijepur in western Odisha, has taken oath in an open public ground. In 2000, 2004, 2009 and 2014, the swearing-in ceremony was held at the Raj Bhavan.

The 11 MLAs who took oath as Cabinet ministers are Prafulla Mallick, Bikram Keshari Arukh, Niranjan Pujari, Tukuni Sahu, Ranendra Pratap Swain, Arun Sahoo, Sudam Marndi, Pratap Jena, Padmanabh Behera, Sushant Singh and Naba Kishor Das. The nine ministers of state are Padmini Dian, Ashok Chandra Panda, Sameer Ranjan Dash, Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Dibya Shankar Mishra, Premananda Nayak, Raghunandan Das, Tusharkanti Behera and Jagannath Saraka. — PTI