At least 20 ministers, including 11 of cabinet rank and nine ministers of state, would take oath of office with Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday, highly placed sources said.
Patnaik, who met Governor M C Bhandare on Wednesday, would be sworn-in as Chief Minister for the third time in a row
and is likely to include all BJD ministers from the previous ministry.
The cabinet ministers who are likely to be sworn-in are Prafulla Ghadei, Damodar Rout, Raghunath Mohanty, AU Singhdeo,
Prasanna Acharya, Pramila Mallick, Debi Prasad Mishra, Surya Narayan Patro, Prafulla Samal, Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha and Bikram Keshari Arukh.
Similarly, the nine ministers of state, the sources said, are Sanjiv Sahoo, Badri Narayan Patra, Anjali Behera, Pratap Jena, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Pravin Chandra Bhanjadeo, Sarada Nayak, Pushpendra Singhdeo and Ramesh Majhi.
Patnaik could take a maximum of 22 members in his council of ministers, as per the constituional limit.
India Decides 2009