Ministry reshuffle: Speaker Niranjan Pujari quits, 5 ministers get party assignments

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the reshuffle in the state council of ministers, Odisha assembly speaker Niranjan Pujari resigned from his position on Friday.

“I have resigned to devote more time for development of my constituency,”Pujari said after putting in his papers to Deputy Speaker Sananda Marandi.

Debi Prasad Mishra, Arun Sahu, Pradeep Panigrahy, Lal Bihari Himirika, Jogendra Behera, Sudam Marandi, Snehangini Chhuria, Pushpendra Singhdeo, Pranab Prakash Das, Sanjay Dasburma are likely to step down from the ministry, government sources said. Debi Prasad Mishra, Arun Sahu, Pradeep Panigrahy, Pranab Prakash Das, Sanjay Dasburma were given new party assignments, making it amply clear that they are going to step down as ministers.

The names of senior BJD leaders Amar Prasad Satpathy, Padmanabha Behera, Maheswar Mohanty, Ranendra Pratap Swain, Pratap Jena and Sushant Singh are doing the rounds for induction to the ministry.