Bhubaneswar, June 2: The formidable combination of the chief minister’s private secretary, Benudhar Mishra, and special secretary Santosh Satpathy will no longer call the shots in Naveen Patnaik’s office. With principal secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra on his way out for a central deputation, the Orissa CMO is ready for a revamp.

Santosh Satpathy, special secretary in the CMO, yesterday returned to his parent cadre in Jharkhand, thus signalling a major change in the office. Serving Orissa on an inter-state deputation for more than eight years, four years of which were in the chief minister’s office, the 1986-batch IAS officer had emerged as the Man Friday of the chief minister.

Though an inter-state deputation usually lasted for about five years, the 46-year-old bureaucrat stayed longer by proving that he was indispensable to Naveen in his first innings as chief minister.

While Satpathy is now back with his parent cadre, Naveen’s private secretary Benudhar Mishra has gone on leave for two months. Benubabu, as Mishra was known in the corridors of power, acted as a key interface between the Biju Janata Dal and the chief minister.

Satpathy had emerged as the key trouble-shooter for Naveen in the past four years. Though retired bureaucrat Pyarimohan Mohapatra was known to be Naveen’s advisor in all political and administrative matters, Satpathy guarded his turf well.

The one who is quietly moving out of the chief minister’s orbit is Jugal Mohapatra, the 1979-batch IAS officer and principal secretary to Naveen for the past four years.

The replacements have started with the appointment of the officer-on-special duty to the chief secretary, Pramod Mohanty, as the new private secretary.

While water resources secretary B.K. Patnaik is tipped to replace Mohapatra, Watershed Mission director Pradip Jena’s name is doing the rounds as Satpathy’s replacement.