Odisha

Naveen Patnaik sworn in as CM of Odisha

Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal administered the Oath of Office to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the Exhibition Ground in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.

Mr. Patnaik has been sworn in for a record fifth time.

Eleven Cabinet ministers and nine Ministers of State were also sworn in.

The 11 Cabinet ministers are: Ranendra Pratap Swain, Bikram Keshari Arukha, Prafulla Mallick, Niranjan Pujari, Padmanabha Behera, Pratap Jena, Arun Kumar Sahoo, Sudam Marandi, Sushant Singh, Naba Kishore Das, and Tukuni Sahu.

The nine Ministers of State are: Ashok Chandra Panda, Sameer Ranjan Dash, Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Dibya Shankar Mishra, Premananda Nayak, Raghunandan Das, Padmini Dian, Tusharkanti Behera and Jagannath Saraka.

Mr. Patnaik’s Cabinet includes 10 new faces, of which two are women.

Mr. Patnaik’s siblings — writer Gita Mehta and industrialist Prem Patnaik — were also present at the swearing-in ceremony.

Hundreds of women self-help group members from different parts of the State were invited to attend the ceremony.

It’s a nostalgic and personal journey for me to reminiscence the past 19 years. Today while I take oath of office for the 5th term, I humbly accept the responsibility that comes with the faith my 4.5 crore family members have reposed on me, yet again. pic.twitter.com/RSzLQiMaKE

— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) May 29, 2019

Odisha

Rebuilding coastal Odisha first test for five-time CM

BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik was on Sunday elected as the legislature party leader and will be Odisha Chief Minister for the record fifth term in a row.

BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik was on Sunday elected as the legislature party leader and will be Odisha Chief Minister for the record fifth term in a row.
 
| Photo Credit:
Biswaranjan Rout

Winning five successive elections is no mean feat for any political party or leader, but the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and its president Naveen Patnaik managed to do just that.

Major challenges are awaiting Mr. Patnaik, who was sworn-in as Chief Minister for the fifth consecutive term on Wednesday.

Mr. Patnaik has to rebuild coastal Odisha, which was badly ravaged by Cyclone Fani on May 3, days after completion of the fourth and last phase of polling in the State.

Delhi

Rahul to oversee transition?

The leadership “crisis” in the Congress may have eased as party president Rahul Gandhi seems set to continue for the next three months to oversee a restructuring exercise before stepping down.

Sources indicate that the party leadership may have persuaded him to stay on until a clear roadmap for its revival has been formulated.

West Bengal

Three West Bengal MLAs, 50 councillors cross over to BJP

The BJP’s “Mission Bengal” gathered pace on Tuesday, with three MLAs from West Bengal joining the party at its headquarters in New Delhi, along with 50 municipal councillors from Kanchrapara, Halishahar and Naihati.

Of the three legislators, Shubhrangshu Roy from Trinamool Congress is former Union Minister Mukul Roy’s son; the other two are Tusharkanti Bhattacharya and Debendra Nath Roy.

Mr. Roy crossed over from the CPI(M) and Mr. Bhattacharya from the Trinamool Congress. The latter, elected on a Congress ticket from Bishnupur, had crossed over to Trinamool two years ago but did not resign his seat after doing so.

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