Bhubaneswar, July 8: Manmohan Samal was elected unopposed as the BJP’s Odisha unit president. A formal announcement was made by party’s central observer Sanjay Jaiswal on Tuesday here.
Samal, a prominent OBC figure, was the only candidate to have filed nomination for the post on Monday.
This was Samal’s third term as the state unit BJP president. He previously held the post from 1999 to 2004, and was appointed again in March 2023.
The political career of 66-year-old leader from Bhadrak began with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), when he became president of the Students’ Union of Bhadrak College in 1979.
In April 2000, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha, and later resigned in 2004 after winning the Odisha Assembly election from the Dhamnagar constituency in Bhadrak district.
During the BJD-BJP coalition Government between 2004 and 2008, Samal served as the Revenue and Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister.
According to political experts, a fresh three-year term for Samal as Odisha BJP president is not just an endorsement of his organizational skills - it’s also a strategic move to empower Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to take decisive steps.
