Bhubaneswar, May 10: In a rejig-cum-expansion, chief minister Naveen Patnaik today inducted five new cabinet ministers while elevating a minister of state to cabinet rank.

The exercise that followed the resignation of three ministers yesterday has raised the strength of the ministry to 22, including the chief minister himself. While there are now 14 cabinet ministers, the number of ministers of state is seven.

During the 15-minute ceremony at Raj Bhavan in the afternoon, governor M.C. Bhandare administered the oath of office to the newly inducted ministers.

The newly inducted ministers, who have all been given cabinet rank, are Usha Devi, Pradeep Maharathy, Lal Bihari Himirika, Maheswar Mohanty and Niranjan Pujari. Minister of state for textile and handloom, Anjali Behera, has been elevated to cabinet rank. With the expansion, the ministry now has two women.

While all the ministers were present at the ceremony, leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh was conspicuous by his absence.

The rejig also brought to an end months of speculation. Most of the ministers were on tenterhooks till the last moment. “Last 24 hours have been the most agonising for me,” said a minister.

Three ministers—Damodar Rout, Bijayranjan Singh Bariha and Praveen Bhanjadeo— had resigned yesterday. A senior BJD leader said leaders loyal to Rajya Sabha member Pyari Mohan Mohapatra have been rewarded.

The exercise also put an end to the speculation about a rift between Pyari Mohan Mohapatra and chief minister Naveen Patnaik. In fact, this became clear following the resignation of Rout whose relations with Mohapatra had soured sometime ago.

Though on the face of it, Rout had appeared to have been a victim of court case against him relating to his allegedly derogatory remarks against harijans, the real reason of his getting the axe was his war of words with Mohapatra.

On the other hand, party sources said SC and ST Development minister Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha was axed from the ministry on the basis of his poor performance.

The ministers were allotted their portfolios in the evening with Maharathy getting agriculture and Mohanty being allotted panchayati raj. While Pujari has been given food supplies and consumer welfare, Himirika has got SC and ST development. Usha Devi, on the other hand, has been allotted science and technology and handloom and textiles.

In the process, Anjali Behera has been moved to the women and child welfare department which, following the resignation of Pramilla Mallick in the wake of dal scam, was being looked after by veteran Prafulla Samal in addition to panchayati raj. However, Samal has now been moved from panchayati raj to tourism and culture.

Significantly, chief minister Naveen Patnaik has divested himself of his forest and environment portfolio and given it to Debi Prasad Mishra, who earlier held higher education. Naveen has given the higher education department to Badrinarayan Patra.