Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and LoP Naveen Patnaik assigned various departments to his 50 MLAs, who would closely watch their activities and raise issues pertaining to the ministries in the state assembly. The move is seen as a strong counter to the BJP government in the assembly. The first session of the 17th Odisha Legislative Assembly is scheduled to commence on July 22.
Major restructure in BJD after poll debacle
Recently on July 8, Patnaik dissolved all state-level office bearers of the party and formed a fresh panel of spokespersons, following the BJD’s dismal show in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Odisha.
However, the district-level BJD officer bearers will continue to hold their offices, the former Odisha chief minister said.
In an order, Patnaik said, “All state-level office bearers of the BJD are hereby dissolved with immediate effect. The new state-level office bearers will be appointed soon.”
Patnaik has appointed Santrupt Mishra, Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, Amar Patnaik, Sasmit Patra and Pradeep Kumar Majhi as party’s national spokespersons.
Newly inducted senior BJD leader Santrupt Mishra has also been appointed as political secretary to party president Naveen Patnaik.
The BJD has also appointed 14 leaders as its state spokespersons.
Senior leader Pratap Jena has been appointed as state media coordinator while Swayam Prakash Mohapatra is the social media coordinator. Party leaders Lelin Mohanty and Priyabrata Majhi have been appointed as media coordinators.
In the 2024 state Assembly elections, the BJD, which ruled the state for 24 years, won 51 seats in the 147-member Odisha Assembly and failed to win a single Lok Sabha seat in the state.
(With PTI inputs)