BHUBANESWAR: It is now official that state BJP president Samir Mohanty will continue in the post for another year and half after the national executive of the party decided in its Delhi meeting to extended the term of national president JP Nadda till June 24, 2024.
Confirming Mohanty’s continuation, state BJP general secretary Prithiviraj Harichandan said the party will go to the 2024 general elections under the leadership of the former.He said the state unit of the party is moving in the right direction and getting stronger under the leadership of Mohanty.
The TNIE had reported on January 2 about the possibility of Mohanty getting extension till the simultaneous elections to Odisha Assembly and Lok Sabha are over. The surmise was based on the speculations that the central leadership was contemplating to retain Nadda as the party chief in view of the next year general elections.
Mohanty’s three-year term as party president came to an end on January 16, 2023. Even if organisational elections were held, he was eligible for one more term as per the constitution of the BJP.
Party feels, in his three-year term, Mohanty proved his leadership quality and organisational acumen by successfully organising state-wide agitations against the alleged misrule of BJD government, corruption and irregularities in distribution of houses under Pradhan Mantri Aaws Yojana (PMAY), mismanagement in paddy procurement, power tariff hike, deteriorating law and order, and increasing atrocities against women.
The agitations of the party led the Central government to conduct probe into the alleged Rs 1,000 crore PMAY scam and mandi mismanagement leading to distress sale of paddy in which the state government was not only reprimanded but asked to submit action taken reports on the basis of the findings of the investigation.
However, Mohanty and his team failed to deliver in all elections except the Dhamnagar bypoll. The party lost miserably in rural and urban body elections and by-elections to Pipili, Balasore, Brajrajnagar and Padampur.