Naveen Patnaik sworn in as Odisha chief minister

BJD president Naveen Patnaik was sworn-in as Odisha chief minister for the fourth straight term here Wednesday. Twenty one ministers including 11 cabinet ministers also took oath with him.

Governor S.C. Jamir administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 67-year-old leader and other ministers at a ceremony attended by hundreds of party leaders, workers, officials and journalists at the Raj Bhavan in the state capital Bhubaneswar.

Patnaik took the oath in English while party workers raised slogans in his favour outside the premises.

The cabinet ministers include Damodar Rout, Debi Prasad Mishra, Pradip Kumar Amat, Bijayshree Routray, Badri Narayan Patra, Bikram Keshari Arukh, Lal Behari Himirika, Pradip Maharathi, Usha Devi, Puspendra Singhdeo and Yogendra Behera.

The ten ministers of state are Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Arun Kumar Sahu, Ashok Kumar Panda, Sanjay Dasburma, Sudam Marandi, Pradip Panigrahi, Ramesh Chandra Majhi, Prafulla Mallick, Pranab Prakash Das and Snehangini Chhuria.

Five leaders who were part of Patnaik's previous team were denied berths in the ministry. They are Surya Narayan Patro, Maheswar Mohanty, Niranjan Pujari, Rajanikant Singh and Subrat Tarai. - IANS