Manmohan Samal at the party’s helm, CM Mohan Majhi will find it easier to expand his Cabinet, appoint key heads of State PSUs and corporations and steer governance
OdishaPlus Bureau
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Odisha unit president Manmohan Samal is all set to be re-elected as he is the only candidate to have filed a nomination for the post on Monday. A formal announcement will come on Tuesday.
The president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Odisha, Manmohan Samal, is poised for re-election as he is the sole candidate to have submitted his nomination for the position on Monday. A formal declaration is expected to be made on Tuesday.
“BJP president JP Nadda Ji has entrusted me with the role of observer (Pravari) for the party’s elections in Odisha. I have received 32 nominations for the national council member position and one for the state president,” stated Sanjay Jaiswal, the party’s central observer.
The election procedure includes 273 delegates from 37 organizational districts, comprising state council members, district presidents, and elected public representatives, which include two Lok Sabha MPs, one Rajya Sabha MP, and five MLAs.
This will mark Samal’s third term as the state BJP president. He previously served in this capacity from 1999 to 2004 and was reappointed in March 2023. A grassroots leader with strong connections in Odisha’s coastal Bhadrak district, Samal’s political journey is characterized by his organizational skills.
At 66 years old, Samal’s political career commenced with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), where he became the president of the student union at Bhadrak College in 1979. He quickly advanced through the ranks of the BJP. In April 2000, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha, representing Odisha, and subsequently resigned in 2004 after winning the Odisha Legislative Assembly election from the Dhamnagar constituency in Bhadrak. During the coalition government of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and BJP from 2004 to 2008, Samal held the position of minister of revenue, food supplies, and consumer welfare. However, his ministerial tenure concluded in December 2008 when he resigned following allegations of involvement in a scandal.
Despite experiencing electoral challenges following 2008, including defeats in the Chandabali constituency, Samal’s influence within the BJP continued to be robust. His leadership played a crucial role in the BJP’s victory in the 2022 Dhamnagar by-election, which ended the BJD’s unbroken streak of bypoll victories since 2009.
Samal is largely recognized for guiding the party to a landmark win in the 2024 Odisha Assembly elections, which concluded the BJD’s 24-year dominance and allowed the BJP to establish its first government in the state. Nevertheless, he faced defeat in the Assembly election for the Chandabali constituency in Bhadrak district.
It was Samal who, before the assembly and Lok Sabha elections last year, opposed allying with the BJD.
The discussions regarding an alliance between the BJD, led by IAS officer-turned-politician and Naveen Patnaik’s closest associate, VK Pandian, and Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw were nearing finalization when Samal persuaded the party’s central leadership that the grassroots members were opposed to it. Samal successfully argued to the central leadership that partnering with the BJD would unjustly burden the party with the BJD’s anti-incumbency issues while jeopardizing the electoral prospects of numerous BJP leaders.