Odisha: Social activist Minati Behera appointed BJD women’s wing chief

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday appointed noted social activist Minati Behera as the president of the women’s wing of the BJD.

This was done in order to revamp the party’s women’s wing with the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls due next year, party sources said.

Behera’s appointment was announced shortly after she resigned as commissioner of the State Commission for Persons with Disabilities.

Behera replaced Pramila Mallik who was made vice-president of the BJD and adviser of the Biju Mahila Dal, the party’s women’s wing.

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State Commission for Women (SCW) chairperons Lopamudra Baxipatra, who also resigned from the post earlier in the day, was appointed as a working president of the Biju Mahila Dal.

Announcing this here, BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra said that Pramila Mallik has been appointed as the vice-president of the party and also as the adviser of Biju Mahila Dal, the women’s wing of the ruling BJD.

While Jyoti Panigrahi and Kasturi Mohapatra were appointed as co-advisers of the women’s sing, Sweta Snigdha Mishra, Lopamudra Baxipatra, Sulochana Das and Gitanjali Bastia were made working presidents of Biju Mahila Dal, he said.

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Sulata Deo and Elina Das were appointed as general secretary and secretary respectively of the party’s women’s wing.

The revamp was aimed at further galvanising the party by strengthening its women’s wing ahead of the elections due next year, a BJD leader said.