Bhubaneswar: The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Friday announced formation of its trade union wing Biju Sramika Samukhya (BSS). The move is being seen as an attempt by the party to regain popularity, loss of which had become apparent after the recently concluded Panchayat election results were out.
The trade union, BSS, has been formed with prior approval of party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, said party vice-president and senior spokesperson Surya Narayan Patro to reporters this afternoon.
Senior trade union leader Rajendra Prasad Singh has been appointed as the president of BSS, while legislator Prafulla Samal has been named as the working president of the wing.
Likewise, trade union leader Subhash Singh has been named as the general secretary of the organisation.
The newly formed trade union wing of the BJD will have 10 vice-presidents, 21 secretaries, five advisors and a treasurer.
Anup Sai, Lalit Nayak, Baidyanath Das, Ananta Narayan Jena, Panchanan Senapati, Gokul Meher, Amrut Das and Dilip Kumar Kar are among the 10 vice presidents of BSS.
The union’s five advisors are: Debasish Samantaray (Cuttack Barabati MLA), Susanta Behera (Chhendipada MLA), Braja Kishore Pradhan (Talcher MLA), Samir Dash (Nimapara MLA) and Sarada Nayak (Ex-MLA of Rourkela).
After the panchayat election outcome, in which the ruling BJD lost around 150 Zilla Parishad (ZP) seats to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the BJD is leaving no stone unturned to regain its lost image ahead of the 2019 Assembly and general elections.
To a question as to why the party felt it necessary to form a trade union wing after 20 years of its formation, Patro said there were lakhs of unorganised labourers and workers working in various sectors like construction, road and transport among others. Taken together, their number would not be less than 1.5 crore, almost one-third of the state’s population, he pointed out.
“Our motive is to get these unorganised workers and labourers united and ensure that none of them is deprived of the various social security benefit schemes that the state government has floated for them,” Patro said.
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