BHUBANESWAR: Putting all speculations to rest Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday appointed senior leader Subash Chauhan as Chairperson of the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC), three months after the post fell vacant. A die-hard RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) member, Chauhan quit BJP before the 2019 polls to join BJD after he was denied a ticket for Bargarh Lok Sabha seat.
He was offered the ticket by the BJP for Bijepur Assembly seat against the Chief Minister which he is reported to have rejected. However, after his appointment as the Chairperson of the WODC, Chauhan will be out of the race for BJD ticket for Bijepur Assembly by-election. Several aspirants for the post have been disappointed with the appointment of Chauhan.
Subash Chauhan is WODC head
Putting all speculations to rest Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday appointed senior leader Subash Chauhan as Chairperson of the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC), three months after the post fell vacant. A die-hard RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) member, Chauhan quit BJP before the 2019 polls to join BJD after he was denied a ticket for Bargarh Lok Sabha seat. He was offered the ticket by the BJP for Bijepur Assembly seat against the Chief Minister which he is reported to have rejected. However, after his appointment as the Chairperson of the WODC, Chauhan will be out of the race for BJD ticket for Bijepur Assembly by-election.
Several aspirants for the post have been disappointed with the appointment of Chauhan. Names of several senior BJD leaders were doing the rounds in political circles for the post. It was also expected that the announcement of the name will be made after the by-election. The Chief Minister seems to have taken a big risk by appointing Chauhan ignoring several BJD leaders from the region when the by-poll is set to be announced by the Election Commission of India soon.
Naveen had held back the announcement of the name to the WODC top post even though he had appointed a former minister Pushpendra Singhdeo as a member. Singhdeo had unsuccessfully contested the last Lok Sabha elections from Kalahandi constituency. Chauhan will be the seventh chairperson of the WODC when he takes over from Development Commissioner Suresh Mohapatra who was appointed to the post on July 25.
Veteran Congress leader Narasingh Mishra was the first chairperson of the WODC from July 2, 1999 to December 1, 2000. Ainthu Sahoo followed Mishra and completed the five-year term from March 26, 2001 to March 26, 2006. Professor Niranjan Panda and Padmini Sekhar Deo were appointed to post there after. Former Speaker Kishore Kumar Mohanty, who succeeded Deo, completed his five-year term from June 19, 2014 to June 18, 2019.