Will ensure BJP victory in 2024 polls: New Odisha BJP chief

Shortly after his appointment as Odisha BJP president on Thursday, Manmohan Samal asserted that a BJP government will be installed in the state “with the help of people” after the 2024 elections.

Assembly elections are due in Odisha simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls in 2024. “I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for reposing trust in me.

Our team will ensure that the BJP is in the power after 2024 elections,” Samal, also a former state president of BJP, told reporters. The next election will be fought by the people and bring the BJP government to power, he said.

Samal (64), a former minister, replaced Samir Mohanty as the state chief of the saffron party. Mohanty’s three-year term as party president ended on January 16 this year and he was officiating as the state BJP president.

Samal also claimed, “people are fed up with the BJD government due to rampant corruption and lawlessness across the state”. The new Odisha chief of the saffron party was the revenue and disaster management minister during the BJD-BJP coalition government in Odisha.

He was elected to the Odisha Assembly from Dhamnagar constituency in 2004. Welcoming Samal’s appointment, Leader of Opposition in the Odisha Assembly, Jaynarayan Mishra, said his experience will be beneficial for the saffron party.

Political observers said that Samal had played a crucial role in ensuring BJP victory in the by-poll to Dhamnagar Assembly seat last year.