Naveen Patnaik takes oath as Odisha CM for fifth time

Bhubaneswar: Naveen Patnaik took oath on Wednesday morning at a public function in Bhubaneswar.

Before the swearing-in ceremony, Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal on Tuesday evening appointed 11 cabinet ministers and 9 ministers of state on the recommendation of Patnaik, who will be sworn in as CM for a record fifth term. So far only two chief ministers: Jyoti Basu of West Bengal and Pawan Chamling of Sikkim have been CM for five terms.

Despite several political analysts predicting hung assembly due to huge anti-incumbency wave and a resurgent BJP, Patnaik's BJD won 112 seats in the Assembly, just 5 less than what it won in 2014 polls.

The 11 Cabinet ministers who will be sworn in are all old faces except Jharsuguda MLA Naba Kishore Das and Titlagarh MLA Tukuni Sahu. Among the 9 ministers of State, all are new faces except Ashok Panda. The strength of the council of ministers is now 21, including the chief minister, which is within 15 % of the strength of the assembly as prescribed by Sarkaria Commission.

The oath taking ceremony will be attended by eminent sculptor Raghunath Mahapatra, vocalist Prafulla Kar, Odissi danseuse Priyambada Mohanty, eminent cardiologist Dr Ramakant Panda, Dr TP Das, gastroenterologist Dr Subrat Acharya, industrialists Kumaramangalam Birla, Naveen Jindal, Sanjeev Puri of ITC, Tata Steel's MD TV Narednran, Tech Mahindra MD CP Gurnani, Mindtree president KK Natrajan, Puneet Dalmia of OCL, Sangeeta Reddy of Apollo Hospitals Group and P R Venkatarama Rajha of Ramco Group.

(With inputs from Hindustan Times)