India News | Day After Team Revamp, Patnaik Meets BJD Leaders Dropped from His Council of Ministers

Bhubaneswar, Jun 6 (PTI) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday met the MLAs who were denied berths in his newly constituted ministry and suggested that they work for the organisation with an eye on 2024 elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assembly.

Patnaik, during his 22 years of regime since 2000, has reshuffled his ministry on various occasions. This is for the first time, he met leaders who have been dropped during a rejig.

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Sources in the BJD said that the reshuffle was effected to form a stronger team ahead of the polls.

The BJD supremo has often being called a "minister killer" for ousting leaders to upkeep his clean image, but he is not known to have met them after seeking their resignation or even sacking them.

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During Monday's meeting at Naveen Niwas, the residence of the chief minister, 10 of the 11 former ministers who did not get a berth in the reshuffle were present.

Bhanjanagar MLA and former parliamentary affairs minister BK Arukha, tipped to become the next Assembly speaker, was the only one who skipped the meeting.

All 20 ministers of the state had on Saturday resigned to pave way for the ministry reconstitution.

The former speaker, S N Patro, had also quit his post, but did not cite any reason for doing so.

The sources said that Patnaik offered solace to the dropped ministers and said that their experience, expertise and organisational skills have been recognised by the party.

The ex-ministers were also told to engage with workers at the grass roots level. They were also asked to undertake tours of villages and organise activists there for further strengthening of the party and to keep intact the core vote bank.

BJD leaders DS Mishra, Pratap Jena, Arun Sahoo, JR Panigrahi, all accused of playing a part in controversial cases, were among who did not find a place in the new team.

"The party needs seasoned leaders to work for further growth. Once that happens, we will get opportunities (to become ministers) again," former law minister Pratap Jena, whose name had figured in the Mahanga double murder case, stated after the meeting.

Former revenue and disaster management minister Sudam Marandi said that he had been a political activist since 1990 and would continue to serve the party, no matter what post he was given.

Similarly, ex-water resources minister Raghunandan Das said, "Opportunities come in turns. The BJD is a huge party with so many senior and talented leaders. However, I would have been happy had my Jagatsinghpur district been given a minister."

The party sources said more rejig within the organisation was on the cards, which might be carried out end of June, before Patnaik leaves for a foreign trip.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)