BHUBANESWAR: Buoyed after winning the recently-held state local body polls, chief minister Naveen Patnaik is planning a major shake-up of his council of ministers and rewarding young MLAs with plum posts, top sources said.
While the date for the reshuffle is yet to be finalised, it is most likely to be in early May, BJD insiders said.
The new ministers will be young MLAs who played rewarding roles in party’s panchayat and urban local body elections, which was swept by the ruling BJD.
According to the plan, at least 50% of the ministers in the 21-member council will be asked to resign while portfolios of almost all the rest will change.
While the details have already been chalked out, the regional satrap will decide on an auspicious date, which may be in the first 10 days of May. The new team will be ready before Naveen celebrates three years in office in his current term on May 29.
Speculation is rife on whether BJD general secretary (organization) Pranab Prakash Das will take up a ministerial berth and a possible replacement for his current role, which is considered the second-most powerful position in BJD after Naveen as party president.
Among those likely to be dropped are two categories of ministers. At least six, who will be utilised in the party organizational works, while the second category include around four others on grounds of poor performance and for earning bad names for themselves and the party. Such leaders may not get key organizational assignments.
BJD sources said some ministers whom opposition targeted for political reasons but had solid ground support and no involvement in wrongdoings as per the government’s assessment are not in the second category.
In BJD, district observers have a major role in distribution of MLA and MP tickets. Those asked to resign but assigned the role of party observers will be seen as key parts of BJD’s strategy for the simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly elections in 2024, BJD sources said.
BJD will go to the polls with the new teams of ministers and party office-bearers without much change after that, sources said.
BJD insiders said before the ministerial reshuffle, Naveen will effect spate of transfers of bureaucrats in three phases. In the first phase, there will be a reshuffle of senior bureaucrats in key positions. Subsequently, superintendents of police and collectors will be transferred, the sources said.
