Naveen appoints Minati Behera as BJD women’s wing chief

Bhubaneswar, Nov 12: BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Sunday  revamped the Biju Mahila Janata Dal, the  women’s wing of the party, and appointed Dr Minati Behera as its president in place of Pramila Mallik.

Mallik has been appointed as the vice-president and adviser, Jyoti Panigrahi and Kasturi Mohapatra as co-advisers; Srimayee Mishra, Lopamudra Baxipatra, Sulochana Das and Gitanjali Bastia as working presidents and Sulata Deo and Elina Das as general secretary and secretary respectively.

Notably, Lopamudra Baxipatra and Dr Minati Behera had resigned from their post as chairperson of State Commission for Women (SCW) and the commissioner of the State Commission for Persons with Disabilities (SCPD) respectively earlier in the day.

According to party sources, Lopamudra, whose tenure as the SCW chairperson was to end on December 3 this year sent her resignation letter to the Chief Minister.

The state government had re-appointed her as the chairperson of SCW on December 3 last year after her initial tenure ended.

State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities Dr. Minati Behera was appointed to the post on April 6, 2015.