Mission 2019: BJD forms trade union wing

Bhubaneswar: The ruling BJD on Friday announced formation of ‘Biju Shramik Samukhya’, the party’s new trade union wing, apparently keeping in view the 2019 elections.

After the approval of chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik, senior party leader Rajendra Prasad Singh has been appointed as president of Biju Shramik Samukhya.

While party leader Prafulla Samal has been appointed working president, Subash Singh will function as the trade union wing’s general secretary.

Similarly, Bhubaneswar Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, Lalit Nayak, Baidyanath Das, former MLA Anup Sai, Panchanan Senapati, Gokul Meher, Amrut Das and Dillip Kar were appointed as vice presidents. Other prominent leaders of the party Debasish Samantaray, Sushant Behera, Braja Kishore Pradhan and Sarada Nayak have been made advisors, T V Patnaik has been appointed as treasurer of Biju Shramik
Samukhya.

The objective behind formation of the trade union wing is to ensure development of labourers and workers in Odisha, a senior party leader said. The trade union, coming as it does after the BJP’s growth in the recent panchayat polls, is part of BJD’s ongoing organizational restructuring. In March, it constituted a Dalit cell to look after the needs of people belonging to scheduled castes in the state.