Nearly per week after two-time Rajya Sabha MP Susmit Patra resigned because the Sena chief, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Monday introduced Manas Ranjan Mangalaj as his successor.
In a letter to Rajya Sabha chairman CP Radhakrishnan, the social gathering additionally mentioned it has appointed Surata Deo as deputy chief within the Higher Home.
Patra, who had been Senate chief because the begin of his second time period in 2022, resigned final week, sparking hypothesis. BJD Chairman Naveen Patnaik accepted his resignation on April 9.
Officers mentioned Patra’s resolution was pushed by “dissatisfaction” on the a part of some BJD MPs together with his management, however there was additionally hypothesis that Patra had vacated the put up of his political secretary, Santrupto Misra, a former company chief who was not too long ago elected prime minister of India. The BJD presently has six members within the higher home.
The social gathering has not formally acknowledged the explanation for Patra’s surprising switch, however sources have steered he had been requested to resign.
Mr. Patra, who holds an MBA and PhD in enterprise administration and beforehand served as dean and professor at Xavier Institute of Administration (XIM) College, Bhubaneswar, is understood for his oratory abilities and articulation of his social gathering’s stand on varied nationwide and international points. He was additionally appointed to the Home of Councilors Vice-President Committee.
Mangalaj’s elevation has stunned many inside the BJD, with some describing it as an “empowerment” of the management of an “influential group” inside the social gathering.
“Mr. Patra’s efficiency in Rajya Sabha was good. Even when the social gathering wished to interchange him, there have been higher choices. Leaders in Rajya Sabha want to talk out. When a frontrunner with a dismal observe document is promoted simply because he’s near a robust camp, it should discourage different leaders,” mentioned a BJD chief on situation of anonymity.
Who’s Mangaraj?
Mangalaj, 55, started his tenure with the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering in July 2022. The journalist-turned-politician joined the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering in April 2018, only a yr forward of the 2019 Indian Parliament and Meeting elections, after struggling to determine a political profession in Congress.
Inside just a few years of becoming a member of the BJD, Mangalaj’s meteoric rise inside the regional social gathering raised eyebrows and stunned even senior leaders. He developed a popularity for being near Patnaik’s trusted bureaucrat VK Pandian, a bunch of officers thought-about influential in key choices in the course of the BJD regime.
Months after the BJD secured its fifth consecutive time period in Odisha in 2019, Mangalaj was appointed as Authorities Advisor (Media and Public Relations) with the important thing accountability of overseeing public relations. He was additionally tasked with managing the social gathering’s media division. Mangalaj was seen as a key member of the group in control of the 2024 election marketing campaign, when the BJD loses energy for the primary time in 24 years.
Regardless of having no organizational expertise, Mangalaj was appointed social gathering observer for the essential Balrampur meeting constituency, the place the social gathering misplaced within the 2024 polls. The BJD additionally misplaced six of the seven meeting segments below Berhampur Lok Sabha seat.
Mangalaj got here below intense scrutiny after his social gathering misplaced the 2024 parallel elections, handing over his media obligations to former minister Pratap Jena. It is usually noteworthy that he disappeared from social gathering affairs after the defeat.
Earlier than becoming a member of the BJD, Mangalaj stood as a Congress candidate from Chilika seat within the 2009 meeting elections and acquired solely 11,204 votes (8.93%).
