Axing of 3 prominent ministers fuels discussion in Odisha political circles

Axing of three influential ministers — Pratap Jena, Divya Shankar Mishra and Arun Kumar Sahoo — from the council of ministers by Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik has now become a matter of discussion in power corridors and political circles.

It is being widely discussed that these powerful ministers paid dearly for their names being dragged in several criminal cases.

Pratap Jena, who was holding the law and panchayati raj department, is believed to have been dropped for his alleged involvement in a double murder case. The ruling the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) always found itself in the dock the double murder incident that took place on January 2, 2021. There was a lot of hue and cry over the police negligence to book the minister who the family members said was the brain behind the double murder.

The alleged involvement of Divya Shankar Mishra, who was then the minister of state for home, in Mamita Meher murder case had proved to be the most difficult situation for the BJD to handle it. This incident had proved to be a shot in the arm for the Opposition which always targeted the minister.

Similarly, it is being discussed that Arun Kumar Sahoo paid the price of his name being dragged in little girl Pari murder case. Bikram Keshari Arukha’s name was also entangled in the mysterious death of senior forest official Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra.

However, BJD leader Subash Singh termed the assumptions as baseless. “The CM has formed a clean cabinet for the service of Odisha people,” he said.

Ex-ministers like Sudam Marndi, Padmanabha Behera, Raghunandan Das, Padmini Dian, Premananda Nayak, Jyotiprakash Panigrahi and Sushant Singh have also been kept outside of the Cabinet. It is being discussed that the axe has fallen on them for their poor performance in the last three years.