Bhubaneswar: Perhaps for the first time in the history of Odisha, Leader of Opposition and BJD Supremo Naveen Patnaik today formed a shadow cabinet for close monitoring, Assembly interventions and other issues relating to various departments of BJP Government.
The BJD has formed the shadow cabinet, assigning both senior and first-time legislators with portfolios to monitor functioning of various departments. All 50 BJD MLAs have been included in the list.
According to an office order issued by the BJD, senior lawmaker Ranendra Pratap Swain has been asked to look after the Revenue & Disaster Management Department while another senior MLA Pramila Mallik will look after Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water and Parliamentary Affairs Departments.
Similarly, Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo to handle issues related to Skill Development & Techincal Education, Badri Narayan Patro to look after the issues related to Women & Child Development Department, Niranjan Pujari—Home & Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare, Aswini Patra—Handlooms, Textile & Handicrafts, Pratap Deb—GA & PG, Arun Sahoo—Water Resources, Sarada Prasad Nayak—Industries, Prasanna Acharya—Finance & Public Enterprises, Braja Kishore Pradhan—Health & Family Welfare, Rajendra Dholkia—School & Mass Education, Manohor Randhari & Jogesh Singh—ST Affairs, Byomakesh Ray—Works, DS Mishra—Energy.
Moreover, Ganeswar Behera has been given Steel and Mines Department, Barsha Singh Bariha—Misson Shakti, Sanatan Mahakud—Agriculture, Sanjib Mallick-MSME, Adhiraj Panigrahi-Law, Souvic Biswal—SSEPD, and Nalani Kanta Pradhan—Housing & Urban Development.
Though the BJD is now the principal Opposition party in the State, the party has distributed departments to its new MLAs. It indicates that the BJD is going to corner the BJP inside and outside the Assembly over various issues. The BJP government will now be under tight scrutiny, local political observers said.