Ruling Biju Janata Dal’s lacklustre Lok Sabha performance in western Odisha seems to have rattled chief minister, Naveen Patnaik. The clever politician that he is he has taken immediate corrective measures, one of these being the inclusion of as many as six leaders from the region in his new ministry.
Among these six, Padmanabh Behera, Niranjan Pujari and Susant Singh are old hands while Naba Kishore Das, Tukuni Sahu and Captain Dibya Shankar Mishra have made the cut for the first time. Five of them have been made cabinet ministers.
The choice of ministers sends out a strong message to the electorate in the western part of the state that the government cares for them and is keen to accelerate the area’s growth.
The fact that BJD lost all the five Lok Sabha seats in western Odisha to Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), its main rival in the state, has hurt the party. More so because chief minister, Naveen Patnaik had himself entered the assembly fray from Bijepur, one of the key seats in this region.