Naveen Patnaik sworn in as Odisha chief minister for 5th consecutive term; Ranendra Pratap Swain, Bikram Keshari Arukh part of cabinet

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Odisha for a fifth consecutive term on Wednesday after he was re-elected with a decisive majority in the Assembly elections. He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Ganeshi Lal in the presence of thousands of people and dignitaries at Idco Exhibition Ground in Bhubaneswar. The 72-year-old BJD chief has become one of the longest-serving chief ministers of the coastal state.

LIVE:Swearing-in ceremony of CM and Council of Ministers #NewOdishaNabinaOdisha https://t.co/Y2WWG9qG3m

— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) May 29, 2019

Twenty ministers including 11 cabinet ministers and nine ministers of state were also administered the oath of office and secrecy. The Cabinet ministers are Ranendra Pratap Swain, Bikram Keshari Arukh, Prafulla Kumar Mallick, Niranjan Pujari, Padmanabh Behera, Pratap Jena, Arun Kumar Sahoo, Sudam Marndi, Susant Singh, Naba Kishore Das and Tukuni Sahu. The ministers of state are Ashok Chandra Panda, Samir Ranjan Dash, Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Dibya Shankar Mishra, Premananda Nayak, Raghunandan Das, Padmini Dian, Tusharkanti Behera and Jagannath Saraka. [caption id=“attachment_6719121” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik after offering prayers at Jagannath Temple in Puri. Image/Twitter/@Naveen_Odisha[/caption] For the first time in the last two decades, Patnaik held the swearing-in ceremony in open. It was attended by some prominent dignitaries from different fields including industry, art, culture, education and civil society. Patnaik’s elder sister and noted writer Gita Mehta and his brother Prem Patnaik were also seen in the event. The Biju Janata Dal, which secured 112 seats in the 147-member Odisha Assembly in the recently-concluded election, held along with Lok Sabha polls, has been in power in the state since 2000. Patnaik was chosen the leader by the newly elected MLAs during a 45-minute meeting at the party headquarters in Bhubaneswar earlier this week, BJD sources said.  At the Sunday meeting , Patnaik said the new government will work hard to ensure speedy development of the state and welfare of its people. Overcoming a Modi wave that swept the country, the Patnaik-led BJD has scripted history with a landslide victory to form the government in Odisha for a record fifth term in a row. The BJD won 112 of 146 assembly seats which went to polls. While the state has 147 assembly segments, polling in Patkura was postponed twice following the death of a candidate and then due to cyclone Fani. . The BJD also won 12 out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the general elections, which was held simultaneously with the assembly polls. The BJD had secured 117 assembly seats in the 2014 assembly polls. The BJP, which had won 10 seats in the previous Assembly election, has made substantial gains this time with its nominees clinching 23 seats. The Congress has bagged nine seats while the CPM and an Independent have bagged one seat each. The saffron party is now poised to replace the Congress as the main Opposition in the state. State Chief Electoral Officer Surendra Kumar called on the governor and handed him over the Gazette Notification issued by the Election Commission notifying the names of the newly elected members of the assembly, the Raj Bhavan spokesman said. With this notification, the new Odisha Legislative Assembly deemed to have been constituted with effect from 25 May, 2019, he said. With inputs from agencies