Odisha: 13 districts remain unrepresented in Naveen's new ministry

This is Naveen Patnaik's first Cabinet reshuffle sice he took charge as Chief Minister for the fourth consecutive term.

Bhubaneswar, May 7: Thirteen of the 30 districts of Odisha remain unrepresented in the government after reshuffle carried out by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, while his home turf Ganjam has the highest number of four Ministers.

The district which are not represented in the council of ministers are Jajpur, Kendrapara, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Gajapati, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Koraput and Mayurbhanj.

The two tribal dominated districts, Mayurbhanj and Kalahandi, where opposition BJP performed exceptionally well in the recent panchayat polls, also remained unrepresented in the ministry.

Pushpendra Singhdeo had been the lone minister from Kalahandi and he was told to resign on Saturday. Similarly, Sudam Marndi from Mayurbhanj was dropped from the ministry and nobody replaced him in the ministry.

Jajpur and Kendrapara districts, known as BJDs fort, also remained unrepresented in the ministry after Pranab Prakash Das Jajpur resigned. Earlier, Atanu S Nayak from Kendrapara district was dropped from the ministry as health minister following a fire incident at a private hospital in odisha.

The entire southern region of the state comprising Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada and Gajapati districts also remained unrepresented in the ministry though Patnaiks home district of Ganjam has four ministers including the CM.

Bikram Keshari Arukha, S N Patro and Usha Devi hailed from Ganjam district besides Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik himself. Ganjam, though located on the coast, is considered the entry point to the southern region of the state.

Surprisingly, small districts like Khurda, Bhadrak and Bargarh have two ministers each while Odishas biggest district Mayurbhanj remained unrepresented.

PTI