Santrupt Misra joins BJD, appointed national spokesperson

BHUBANESWAR: Business leader Santrupt Misra, former HR head of Aditya Birla Group, joined the BJD here on Friday and was appointed party’s national spokesperson moments later.

Speculation about his potential entry into the Naveen Patnaik-led party had been circulating since he opted for voluntary retirement from his corporate position in December.

Welcoming Santrupt to the BJD at his residence, Naveen said the party will soon decide the position he will stand for in Odisha after proper consultation within the party. “He has left a very important job in corporate to help us with our good work in Odisha,” the chief minister said. Naveen’s close aide VK Pandian and general secretary (organization) Pranab Prakash Das were among others present.

Responding to media queries, Santrupt said he will do whatever responsibilities are assigned to him to the best of his knowledge and capacity to further boost the state’s development pursing the dream of making Odisha a developed state by 2036, centenary year of Odisha’s formation. On the possibility of contesting either Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha, Santrupt said it’s too early to speak about it since it’s just his “Class I” in politics.

Santrupt, a native of Puri district, said he wanted to do something for his home state since long, having spent three decades in corporate in different parts of the world. He said BJD was natural choice given the party’s focus on state’s development under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik in the past 25 years.

BJD insiders said Santrupt may contest for Lok Sabha from Puri while sitting LS member from Puri, Pinaki Mishra, is likely to enter Rajya Sabha in the election scheduled on February 27. Three RS seats from Odisha are falling vacant and BJD is comfortably poisoned to win all three seats.

The corporate honcho had already been working in an advisory role to the Naveen government before he took voluntary retirement.

In 2021, Santrupt was appointed chairman of the Ekamra Kshetra Heritage Project Advisory Council, a 19-member committee that guides and coordinates the implementation of the Ekamra Plan scheme aimed at improving the 11the century Lingaraj shrine in Bhubaneswar. His wife Alka Misra is currently chairperson of the Odisha Skill Development Authority.

A BJD leader said Santrupt’s entry is part of BJD’s Puri strategy. While Santrupt was appointed national spokesperson, another prominent leader from Puri district and former minister Sanjay Das Burma was also appointed a BJD spokesperson at the same time.


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