Retained as Odisha chief for leading BJP to first solo govt: Who is Manmohan Samal
Samal, 65, is thus set to be elected unopposed as the Odisha BJP chief, which would be declared by the party's central observer Sanjay Jaiswal on Tuesday.
His candidature was decided with consensus at a meeting of senior BJP leaders at the party headquarters in Bhubaneswar following which he filed his nomination.
BJP insiders said Samal has been entrusted with the task of heading the Odisha party unit for another term for his 'political acumen' that helped the party win an absolute majority for the first time in the 2024 Assembly polls. The BJP won 78 of the state's 147 seats as against the BJD's 51 seats.
Under his leadership, the party also swept the simultaneous 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the state, bagging 20 of the total 21 seats.
'Even though the BJP central leadership had almost decided to forge an alliance with the BJD for the 2024 elections, Samal was the only party leader who did not just oppose the alliance proposal but also convinced the leadership to fight alone,' said a senior party leader.
Following his appointment as the state BJP head in March 2023 in the run-up to the Assembly polls, Samal emerged as a key party leader who could gauge public sentiments and sense a 'strong anti-incumbency mood' against the then Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government, which had been then into its fifth consecutive term since 2000.
'Samal convinced the BJP central leaders not to forge an alliance with the BJD but to contest on its own with an aggressive campaign. The central leadership had to agree with his proposal and it helped the party to dislodge the BJD government, clearing the path for the first BJP government in Odisha,' said the party leader.
Samal has been active in politics since his student days in the late 1970s, when he held various positions in the RSS' students wing ABVP. BJP sources said his appointment as the state party president was also approved by the Sangh. He had served as the state BJP chief for two terms during 1999-2004 too.
Considered a grassroots leader with strong organisational skills, Samal, who belongs to the Other Backward Class (OBC), was nominated by the BJP to the Rajya Sabha in April 2000. He had to quit as the MP after his election to the Odisha Assembly from the Dhamnagar Assembly constituency in Bhadrak in 2004.
In the then BJD-BJP coalition government, Samal held key portfolios of revenue and food supplies and consumer welfare from 2004 to 2008. In 2009, the BJD severed its alliance with the BJP.
Samal, who shifted his constituency to neighbouring Chandabali after Dhamnagar was reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SCs), could not win any election from his new seat since 2014 polls, losing to the BJD candidate even in the 2024 polls by about 1,900 votes.
An affable leader, Samal is known for his connect with all party factions in the state. He is also credited in BJP circles with ensuring a 'proper coordination' between the Mohan Charan Majhi-led government and the party organisation.
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