All Naveen ministers quit ahead of move for ‘slightly younger’ Cabinet

The move came a day after the BJD registered landslide victories in the Brajrajnagar Assembly bye-election, and three of its candidates were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha.

The BJD has been ruling Odisha continuously since 2000. Patnaik, who celebrated the 25th anniversary of his public life earlier this week and completed 22 years as Chief Minister last month, remains in absolute control of his party and the government, and is hence unlikely to face any resistance over changes in the organisation or council of ministers.

Asked whether any important leader would be inducted into the cabinet, a party MP said: “Nobody is important.” Another MP said: “Only Naveen and (V K) Pandian (his Private Secretary) would know. The rest is all speculation.”

There has been talk about a massive overhaul of the Cabinet and party since April, after Patnaik carried out a review of the BJD’s performance in the panchayat and urban local body elections. While the BJD did well in the polls, the CM asked all ministers to submit performance reports of their departments.

This is not the first time Patnaik is carrying out a mid-term reshuffle of his Cabinet. In 2017, he had done a similar exercise after the panchayat elections. He had then asked 10 out of the 20 ministers in his government to resign. Five of the former ministers were given responsibilities in the party’s district units.

“It is the usual churn of talent. There are so many MLAs and you have to accommodate everybody. Some people will move from the ministry to party work and some from the party to the government,” a senior BJD leader said.

“See the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections may be two years away, but we have to keep the organisation active and rejuvenated if we have to maintain the winning streak,” another MP said.