Bhubaneswar: Manmohan Samal was formally anointed as the president of BJP’s Odisha unit on Tuesday.
The 65-year-old veteran leader was the unanimous choice, being the only candidate to have filed nomination for the post on Monday.
The announcement was made at 11.40 am by central BJP leader Sanjay Jaiswal, who was deputed as the party’s election in-charge for Odisha. Soon after the declaration, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, his council of ministers, BJP national vice-president Baijayant Jay Panda, party MPs, MLAs, and senior functionaries felicitated Samal at the party headquarters.
This will be his second consecutive and fourth overall term in the top position of the party in the state. Samal was previously elected to the post in 1999 and 2001 during the BJP’s coalition government with the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), and was appointed again in March 2023, when he steered the Lotus party to a massive victory in the 2024 Assembly polls while sweeping the Lok Sabha seats from Odisha. He was “only party leader” who did not just oppose alliance with BJD for 2024 polls but also convinced the leadership to fight alone.
A grassroots leader with strong organisational skills, Samal belongs to the Other Backward Class (OBC). He has been instrumental in strengthening BJP’s booth-level network and grassroots machinery as the party is trying to consolidate its hold in Odisha.
Political observers believe that with Samal remaining in the top post, CM Mohan Majhi will find it easier to expand his ministry, appoint key heads of State PSUs/corporations, and steer governance without coordination bottlenecks that often arise between party units and the government. Majhi’s presence during his nomination filing made it amply clear that he was firmly behind him.
“Heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to Shri Manmohan Samal on being re-elected as the State President of Odisha BJP. Your steadfast leadership, astute organizational skills, and immense dedication to the workers have given BJP a new identity in Odisha. I firmly believe that under your leadership in the coming times, the BJP organization will become even stronger and will be inspiring for the prosperous future of Odisha,” the CM posted on X.
BJP sources said Samal’s appointment as the state party president was also approved by the Sangh. He has held various positions in the RSS’ students wing ABVP during his student days in the late 1970s.
