BJD announces 15-member coordination committee in Odisha

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], August 5 (ANI): The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Monday announced the names of a 15-member coordination committee for coordinating various activities of Biju Janata Dal throughout the state.

According to the notice by the BJD, the senior vice president of BJD, Debi Prasad Mishra, has been appointed as the Chairman of the Committee.

The committee was formed by BJD party president and former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

The committee also includes BJD leaders Pramila Mallik, Niranjan Pujari, Bikram Keshari Arukha, Pratap Keshari Deb, Pradip Kumar Amat, Aruna Kumar Sahoo, Aswini Kumar Patra, Pratap Jena, Sarada Prasad Nayak, Sudam Marndi, Manohar Randhari, Snehangini Chhuria, Mahesh Sahoo and Debesh Acharya.

This year, BJD suffered a massive defeat in both the State Assembly and Parliamentary elections, which ended the 24-year-old tenure of the BJD.

The Biju Janata Dal, which has ruled Odisha since 1997, lost to the BJP, breaking the 24-year-old reign of Naveen Patnaik as the Chief Minister.

The Bhartiya Janata Party secured 78 seats in the 147-seat assembly. The BJD secured 51 seats, way behind the majority mark of 74 and the Indian National Congress secured 14 seats. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls also, the BJP performed well by securing 20 out of the 21 parliamentary seats of the state; the remaining one seat was won by Congress.

Recently, on Thursday, August 1, former Rajya Sabha MP and BJD leader Mamata Mahanta joined the BJP, a day after resigning from the BJD. After joining the BJP, Mamata Mohanta said that her only aim was the service and welfare of the common people.