Baripada: The Biju Janata Dal in an effort to restructure and strengthen the organisation in Mayurbhanj district held a review meeting here Tuesday.
The BJD functionaries felt the Bharatiya Janata Party has made inroads into its bastion in the last panchayat and Assembly elections. Of the nine Assembly seats, the BJD got only three. It lost its Lok Sabha seat too.
Party stalwarts know well that the BJP has no grassroots in the district, but it performed well due to the infighting in the BJD. The BJD leadership in the district was responsible for that.
The party has drawn up a blueprint for a complete makeover of its organization in Mayurbhanj. Minister Arun Sahoo was the party observer in the district. As an initial move, Pranab Prakash Das has been appointed as observer in Sahoo’s place.
The BJD district unit is very active now, and some leaders have started lobbying for organizational responsibilities.
Former Morada MLA Maharaj Prabin Chandra Bhanjadeo was denied a BJD ticket in the last election. Miffed at this, he had resigned from the party and joined the BJP.
The post of district unit chief has been vacant after Debasish Mohanty was appointed as chairperson of the State Agriculture Enterprise Corporation. Similarly, the youth and student wings of the BJD are almost non-existent. The women’s wing is also dormant.
Former Baripada MLA Sananda Marndi was defeated in the last Assembly polls. However, he has his followers Jintendra Mohanty and Abhay Singh as presidents of the youth and student wings.
Bangiriposi MLA Sudam Marndi who is also the Revenue Minister has been exercising his clout in the district. Rajkishore Das, who crossed over from the BJP into the BJD, has been rehabilitating his followers in the BJD.
Talks are on to strengthen the youth and student wings. Pranab Prakash Das said responsibilities would be assigned to leaders according to their abilities.
PNN