Bhubaneswar: Five months after an extensive organisational reshuffle, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday appointed 10 more leaders as state office bearers of the party.
The appointments ahead of the Nuapada by-election, scheduled for November 11, are being seen as part of the party’s strategy to bolster its internal structure and grassroots network in preparation for upcoming electoral and political challenges.
According to the office order, Chiranjib Biswal has been appointed as vice-president and Pushpendra Singh Deo and Ganeswar Behera as senior general secretaries. Similarly, Lambodar Nial, Alka Mohanty, Irani Ray, Sudhir Das and Manoj Mishra would don the mantle of general secretaries. Rajesh Nigam, Santosh Patnaik and Raju Gheebela have been appointed as secretaries.
Interestingly, Chiranjib and Ganeswar had joined the Conch party ahead of the 2024 elections.
The BJD has also constituted three committees with senior leaders to spearhead the party’s campaign for the by-election.
In May, the BJD had appointed 71 senior leaders as state office bearers, including seven senior vice-presidents, eight vice-presidents, 20 senior general secretaries, 31 general secretaries, and a treasurer.
Debi Prasad Mishra (headquarters), Prafulla Samal, Usha Devi, Bikram Keshari Arukh, Pramila Mallick, Niranjan Pujari, and Chandra Sekhar Sahu were named senior vice-presidents. Pranab Prakash Das was elevated from his previous role as organisational secretary to vice-president along with former ministers Pratap Jena (headquarters), Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Sanjay Kumar Das Burma, Rabi Narayan Nanda and Sarada Prasad Nayak and Rajendra Dholakia, Ashwini Kumar Patra and Sarada Prasad Nayak.
Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, Priti Ranjan Ghadai, Ramesh Chandra Majhi, Tukuni Sahu, Dibya Shankar Mishra, Bhrugu Buxipatra, Pradip Majhi, Debesh Acharya, Purna Chandra Swain, Dhruba Charan Sahoo, Sushant Singh, Sudhir Samal, Ananta Narayan Jena, Lekhasri Samantsinghar, Rajashree Mallick, Manas Mangaraj, Byomkesh Ray, Pranab Balabantaray, Snehangini Chhuria, and Jagannath Saraka were appointed senior general secretaries.
Several youth leaders, including Tusharkanti Behera and Souvic Biswal, were appointed as general secretaries with Cuttack mayor Subhash Singh as the party’s treasurer.