Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the 24th foundation day of Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Odisha Chief Minister and BJD President Naveen Patnaik on Monday asked his party colleagues to suggest ways to further strengthen the party apparatus.
Chairing the ruling party’s first State Council meeting via video conferencing, Naveen underscored the regional party’s commitment to Odisha and urged the party’s rank and file to serve the state and its people.
Addressing the council members who gathered at BJD office here, the party supremo sought suggestions from all the members for bolstering the government and the party mechanisms.
The BJD State Council meeting is being held a day after the party executive body met at the party headquarters in the Odisha capital.
On Sunday, the BJD leaders said successive central governments have deprived Odisha of its genuine demands like special category status. They said the party would continue to fight for the cause of Odisha.
On Friday at the executive meeting of Biju Yuva Janata Dal, the party’s young wing, Naveen urged the party workers to wage a relentless fight against the Centre’s injustice to the state and asserted that national parties cannot serve the state’s interests.
Naveen targetting the BJP and the Congress is being seen as a strategy to counter growing perception that his party shares a good relationship with the saffron party and its bosses at the Centre despite its policy of maintaining equidistance from both the national partied. Further, Naveen’s bid to galvanize the party machinery is viewed as beginning of the BJD’s preparations for urban elections likely to be held next year.
Also Read: BJD Executive Body Meet: Leaders Demand Fair Deal For Odisha From Centre
