Bhubaneswar, May 28: Orissa Congress workers are disappointed by what they see as the state under representation in the Union cabinet that was expanded today.

Former Union cabinet minister and Congress (Balasore) MP Srikant Jena who was sworn in as a minister of state today, is the lone representative in the jumbo Manmohan Singh ministry. But, the induction is being seen as a demotion for Jena, who was a cabinet minister in both the Deve Gowda and Gujral ministries during the Nineties.

Jena took his oath at the Rashtrapati Bhavan today in a pensive mood, while sources went on to say that he was reluctant to accept the offer.

Orissa, which sent six Congress MPs to the Lok Sabha this time (an improvement from its two seats in 2004), has little representation in the 19-member Manmohan Singh cabinet, sworn in last week. It was expected that it would get a “deserving” representation in the cabinet with the induction of at least two ministers.

However, only Jena, a former Union cabinet minister and head of the state in the Congress campaign committee, was inducted.

Two other stalwarts — veteran tribal leader and former chief minister Hemananda Biswal and former Union minister and Kalahandi MP Bhakta Charan Das — were also in the race for a ministerial berth.

Biswal, who had served the state for two brief stints as chief minister in 1989 and 1999, was elected from Sundergarh by defeating BJP national vice-president and former Union tribal affairs minister Juel Oram. He had earlier headed Congress’s Orissa unit.

Though as many as nine former chief ministers were inducted in Manmohan Singh cabinet this time, Biswal’s case was ignored. Poor representation of Orissa in the Union cabinet has given a handle to the BJD to criticise the Manmohan Singh government for its neglect. “Congress-led central governments have been neglecting Orissa’s interest,” said chief minister Naveen Patnaik. Though there is resentment in the state Congress over the “poor representation”, leaders are guarded in their reaction.