Bhubaneswar: The ruling BJP on Tuesday reappointed Manmohan Samal as its Odisha unit president. Samal’s reappointment to the post was announced by BJP’s central election observer Sanjay Jaiswal in the presence of senior leaders at the party’s State headquarters. He was the lone leader to file the nomination for the post and, therefore, elected unopposed, Jaiswal said.

This will be Samal’s second consecutive term and fourth term in all. His earlier three terms were from November 1999 to October 2000, October 2000 to May 2004 and March 2023 to July 2025.

Congratulating Samal following his re-election as the State BJP president for the fourth term, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi called him a seasoned politician. He said Samal’s leadership always proved beneficial for the BJP. The BJP formed the government in Odisha - either in alliance with the BJD in 2000 and 2004 or on its own in 2024 - during Samal’s tenure as State president. He highlighted the political journey of Samal from an ABVP worker to the Odisha BJP chief.

The Chief Minister asserted that the organisation and government are the two sides of the same coin. He exhorted the party workers and leaders to work as a unit to achieve the goal of a ‘Developed Odisha’.

Meanwhile, in his speech, Samal acknowledged the party workers who helped steer the BJP to form the government in the State. Samal said that due to the tireless efforts of the workers, the BJP, ridiculed as a signboard party in the 1980s, has formed the government in 2024.

The State BJP chief said a normal worker can assume the top position in the party. Samal urged the party workers to work tirelessly to fulfil the commitment made to the people of Odisha.

The central leadership of the party has placed their faith in Samal for his stellar role in the BJP’s historic rise to power in Odisha for the first time in 2024.

Born on April 15, 1959, in Bhadrak district, Samal joined politics as a student and was elected the Students’ Union president of Bhadrak College in 1979 as a member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

He rose through the ranks and was made a minister in the BJD-BJP coalition government headed by Naveen Patnaik in the early 2000s.

He held portfolios such as Revenue and Disaster Management and Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare. He was then an MLA from the Dhamnagar constituency.

The BJP won 78 seats in the 147-member Assembly, while Patnaik’s BJD secured 51 seats in 2024 elections.

The Congress won 14 seats, CPI(M) secured one, and three Independent candidates also won.

However, Samal himself lost the Assembly election from Chandabali seat in Bhadrak district.