BHUBANESWAR: As the BJP has set the ball rolling for electing its new state president on July 8, speculations are abuzz that incumbent chief Manmohan Samal is a frontrunner for the post.
After prolonged stalemate and hold-up at the last moment on June 29 in view of the stampede during Rath Yatra in Puri that claimed the lives of three devotees, the state election officer for the party’s organisational poll Balasore MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi has issued a fresh schedule beginning July 6.
As per the new schedule, a provisional voters’ list will be released on July 6 inviting objections and a final list will be prepared the same day. The next day (July 7) will be for filing nomination and election will be held on July 8, if needed, said Sarangi.
“It has been a convention in the BJP that a single nomination is filed displaying consensus. We expect the same thing will happen this time,” said a senior leader of the party.
Informed sources said national general secretaries Sunil Bansal and Tarun Chug have had several rounds of discussions with Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and other state leaders for selection of a consensus candidate. “Samal and state vice-president Golak Mohapatra were the two contenders for the post. It appears that Samal has an edge over Mohapatra as the central leadership has more confidence on his organisational abilities,” the sources maintained.
However, one thing that goes against Samal is that he has already been the state unit president for three terms. Though he was elected twice from 1999 to 2000 and 2001 to 2004, he was nominated for the third term in March 2023.