Bhubaneswar: In a significant move, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday dropped Higher Education Minister Rohit Pujari from the council of ministers.
Patnaik's gesture surprised everyone as not even a month has passed since after a Cabinet reshuffle took place in Odisha. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's sudden decision to remove Higher Education Minister Rohit Pujari from the Council of Ministers is deemed unexpected as nearly none had an inkling about it.
Also read: Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik launches online portal to issue fire safety certificates
Sources in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) on Friday confirmed that Patnaik recommended Governor Ganeshi Lal to exclude Pujari's name from the ministry and assigned the department to food and supplies minister Atanu S Nayak. Pujari was not immediately available for comment. A lawmaker from Rairakhol assembly segment, Pujari was inducted into the ministry in June last year. Sources said Patnaik reviewed the performances of all the departments from May 22 to June 2. In the review, it was found that the performance of Higher Education department was at the bottom of the list. Earlier, Patnaik had inducted three new ministers to his cabinet. These include--senior BJD lawmakers Bikram Keshari Arukha, Sundam Marndi, and Sarapda Prasad Nayak. In May, Last week, School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash and Labour Minister Srikant Sahu resigned.
With the inclusion of the three new ministers, the strength of the cabinet has then mounted to 22, including the CM. Both Arukha and Marndi were dropped from the council of ministers during the previous reshuffle held in June last year. Nayak had also earlier served as a minister in the Patnaik cabinet.
