BHUBANESWAR: Giving a new dimension to his 'people-first' approach, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday said the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) fights elections to win the love of people and serve them.
Naveen was re-elected as the president of BJD for the eighth consecutive term. Returning officer Pratap Dev announced his name as the party president at an event here.
Dev also released the list of State Executive members. Of the 355 State council members, 80 were elected as State Executive members, including the party's district presidents.
Addressing the State Executive, Naveen said, "As Biju babu says, you must not think of ruling the people but always be the servants of people," he said after being formally chosen as the president of the ruling party.
Naveen was the only leader to file nomination papers for the post on February 23. He thanked people of Odisha and members of the party for their support and blessings. The organisational elections in BJD are held in every three years.
The organisational polls of the BJD was held in five phases. The first three phases saw the election of presidents and committee members of gram panchayats and wards in urban areas, presidents of block committees and members in rural areas and presidents and committee members in urban areas besides the district committee presidents and members.
Last week, the party had declared the list of 33 presidents of its organisational districts. While 14 old hands were elected as district presidents, new faces were given charge in 19 districts.
Naveen was first elected as president of the regional party in 1997 when the party was formed. He is continuing as Chief Minister of the State since 2000.