By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo has been appointed as the president of the party’s Odisha unit, the party announced here Sunday.
Singh Deo, 54, is a four-time legislator. He is also leader of the BJP in the state assembly.
He served as a cabinet minister twice in the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD)-BJP alliance government from 2000 to 2009.
BJP president Rajnath Singh appointed Singh Deo after the state party leaders could not arrive at a consensus on the issue of state leadership, a senior party leader told IANS.
For the past few months, a large number of party leaders from the state had been camping in Delhi, requesting the central leadership to intervene after the tenure of its state president Jual Oram ended in December.
Singh Deo will lead the Odisha unit of the BJP in the 2014 general elections.