BJD President Naveen Patnaik Sworn-In As Odisha CM For 5th Term

Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) President Naveen Patnaik was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Odisha for a fifth consecutive term on Wednesday after he was re-elected with a decisive majority in the Assembly elections. Naveen Patnaik was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Ganeshi Lal in the presence of thousands of people and dignitaries at Idco Exhibition Ground here. The 72-year-old BJD chief has become one of the longest-serving chief ministers of the coastal state.

Twenty ministers including 11 cabinet ministers and nine ministers of state were also administered the oath of office and secrecy. The cabinet ministers are Ranendra Pratap Swain, Bikram Keshari Arukh, Prafulla Kumar Mallick, Niranjan Pujari, Padmanabh Behera, Pratap Jena, Arun Kumar Sahoo, Sudam Marndi, Susant Singh, Naba Kishore Das and Tukuni Sahu.

The ministers of state are Ashok Chandra Panda, Samir Ranjan Dash, Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Dibya Shankar Mishra, Premananda Nayak, Raghunandan Das, Padmini Dian, Tusharkanti Behera and Jagannath Saraka. For the first time in the last two decades, Patnaik held the swearing-in ceremony in open. (IANS)

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