BJD forms 'shadow cabinet' to keep close watch on Odisha government's performance

Puri (Odisha) [India], July 17 (ANI): The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday formed a group of 50 elected members to keep a watch on the performance of different departments of the recently formed Odisha government.
The BJD has assigned responsibilities to its elected members to play the role of a strong opposition.
"The opposition party is the watchdog of public interest. Biju Janata Dal, as the opposition party, will keep a close watch on the performance of various departments of the state government. For this, the leader of the opposition Mr. @Naveen_Odisha
Biju Janata Dal has given responsibility to 50 elected members as per the schedule below," the party said in a post on X.
Among the 50 members, Ranendra Pratap Swain Athagarh has been allotted the Department of Revenue and Disaster Management, Pramila Mallik Binjharpur has been allotted Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water and Parliamentary Affairs Department, Badri Narayan Patra Ghasipura has been allotted the Department of Women & Child Development.

Earlier, the BJD appointed state-level and national-level spokespersons. 14 leaders including Prasanna Acharya, Pramila Mallick and Debi Mishra were appointed as state-level spokespersons; Santrupt Misra and Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo have been appointed as national spokespersons. Santrupt Misra has also been appointed as political secretary to Naveen Patnaik.
The party also dissolved its state-level office bearers.
Notably, in the 18th Lok Sabha elections, the BJD faced a significant setback, failing to secure any of the 21 seats, while the BJP won 20 seats and Congress managed to win one seat. In the state assembly elections, the BJD won 51 out of 147 seats, while the BJP secured a majority by winning 78 seats.
The Biju Janata Dala, which has ruled Odisha since 1997, lost to the BJP, breaking the 24-year-old reign of Naveen Patnaik as the Chief Minister.
VK Pandian, a former bureaucrat and close aide to the ex-chief minister, has stepped back from active politics after the party's electoral loss. (ANI)