Three new Ministers will be sworn-in on Monday against the existing vacancies while portfolios of a few ministers are likely to be changed. Right through the day there were speculations on who is likely to be inducted. The choice is said to have been narrowed down to Sarada P Nayak, Bikram Arukh and Sudam Marandi.

All three were cabinet ministers earlier and had been dropped at different points in time.

Arukh had been dropped from the ministry and made the Speaker of the Assembly. He resigned from the Speaker post a few days ago.

Marandi had been dropped from the ministry while Nayak was a minister in the earlier term of the C M but was not in the ministry in the fifth term( after 2019 elections).

The induction of the three experienced ministers is apparently based on Lok Sabha seats and districts which they represent.

It is perceived that the main opposition party – the BJP has some strength in Mayurbhanj and Sundergarh districts and the BJD wants to consolidate its position in these two districts by inducting Sudam Marandi, a tribal of Mayurbhanj distirct and Sarada P Nayak who belongs to Rourkela in Sundergarh district.

The BJP had won the Lok Sabha seats of Mayurbhanj and Sundergarh . While Juel Oram, a tribal leader had won the Sundergarh LS seat, Bisweshwar Tudu won the Mayurbhanj parliamentary seat.

The inclusion of Marandi and Nayak is aimed at increasing the presence and clout of the BJD leaders to challenge or dent the BJP’s prospects in these two lok sabha constituencies.

Bikram Arukh resigned from the post of Speaker a fewdays ago and indications were that the BJD strongman will be made a minister to have better grip on party affairs in Ganjam district, where again, the ruling BJD was facing a threat from the BJP as well as the rebel MLA Panigrahi.

While all of it is clearly a well-thought-out exercise, the fact that the coastal district of Puri and Jagatsinghpur has been given a short strife.

Two Ministers Samir Dashand Srikanta Sahu had been asked to resign recently. They belong to Puri and Ganjam district. And none from Puri district has got a place.

The post of Speaker has to be filled and speculations are that it could be a woman.