Reward or tactic? Why BJP reappointed Manmohan Samal as its Odisha unit chief
Former minister Manmohan Samal, under whose leadership the Bharatiya Janta Party came to power in Odisha on its own strength for the first time last year, has been reelected as the party’s state chief.
This marks an unprecedented fourth tenure for Samal, 66, who previously served as Odisha BJP president from 1999 to 2000, again from 2000 to 2004 and since March 2023.
Samal, a seasoned politician, could have been a claimant for the post of chief minister in June 2024 when the saffron party surprisingly got majority in assembly elections—besides winning a record number of Lok Sabha seats in the general elections—by bringing an end to the 24 years rule of BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik.
But with Samal’s loss with a narrow margin in the assembly election, the BJP central leadership experimented with a tribal chief minister in the state with 23 per cent tribal population. Mohan Charan Majhi became the first BJP chief minister from tribal community.
Though Congress had two tribal chief ministers earlier in Hemananda Biswal and Girdhar Gamang, they had been chosen during the last part of two Congress ministries to succeed J.B.Patnaik after the latter got discredited.
When BJP ensured that two BJD MPs resigned from Rajya Sabha, there were speculations that Samal may go to parliament in one of those vacated seats. It did not materialize. So, when election for the state BJP president was due, it was expected that Samal would retain his chair.
The reward for Samal seems logical as during the last one year, he had not got any other official position. Now, with his reelection as the state BJP chief, he will have a tenure of three years. Samal was earlier a member of Rajya Sabha from BJP and has also worked as cabinet minister in the BJD-BJP coalition government under Naveen Patnaik before resigning in a controversial incident.
In fact, before last year’s election, when speculation about a BJD-BJP alliance was doing the rounds, he had reportedly opposed it and had argued before central leadership that BJP could win on its own. Election results proved him correct though he lost his seat with a narrow margin.
Samal is from an OBC community which could be helpful as more than half of state’s population are from OBC groups. He also has an RSS and ABVP background.
After taking charge as BJP president for the fourth time, Samal emphasized the unwavering contribution of grassroot workers and detailed his vision for Odisha’s development by 2036 when the state reaches its formation’s centenary year. Samal credited party workers for transforming the BJP from being called a ‘signboard party’ in 1980s to a ‘ruling force’.
“It was because of our workers that we could form a government of our own,” Samal asserted, addressing a gathering. He offered full support to chief minister Majhi and his government. Projecting a long-term plan, he declared, “This government will see 2036”, signalling the BJP’s intent to remain in power well into the next decade.
The Mohan Charan Majhi government completed its first year in June and it has not been a smooth affair for it. There are posts in the ministry to be filled up. There have been issues of governance failure. In law and order the government has drawn flaks. Besides issues of gang rape of a college girl in Gopalpur sea beach, attack on Dalits at Dharakote of Ganjam district, mismanagement in Puri car festival and death of three devotees in stampede, attack of a senior Odisha Administrative Officer by ruling partymen inside premises of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation recently and ensuing protests have put the government on the backfoot.
As president, Samal may have to deal with these issues politically. He has emphasized unity in his speech citing the well known phrase ‘united we stand and divided we fall’. One of his biggest challenges will be strengthening grassroot organizational structure across the state. Since RSS has a key role, Samal has to coordinate between Sangh, government and the party. Besides filling up of ministerial vacancies, he has to oversee appointment of partymen as chairpersons of government corporations which are political posts.
Chief Minister Majhi congratulated the new president, feeding him rasgulla. But challenges are aplenty. However, the good rapport betw
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