The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Vice President, Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda unveiled a statue of late BJP leader, Bijay Pradhan at Chapali under Mahakalpada Assembly Constituency on Tuesday.
After his arrival at Sobala, Panda was taken to Chapali in a grand procession, where he unveiled the statue and addressed a public gathering arranged in memory of Pradhan.
Speaking about Pradhan, Panda said, “One year has passed since the death of Bijay Pradhan. He was a hard-working leader. He visited every household in the area and kept all the people close to him. People loved him a lot."
"Bijay Babu’s memory is fresh and he will live amongst us for years to come. It is heartening to see that people have so much of love for him irrespective of his political affiliations. I will never forget the time we spent together while meeting people and doing social work,” Panda said.
Prafulla Das, Vice President of Kendrapara District Congress Committee said, “Bijay Pradhan is a perfect example of a selfless social worker. After passing out from Kendrapara college in 1975, he began his political career as a Sarpanch. Though initially he was associated with the Congress party, he later switched because of personal reasons.”
Pradhan passed away at Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar following a heart attack last year. He was 70.