Bhubaneswar: The Naveen Patnaik government's creation of Biju Yuva Vahini, a voluntary force at the grassroots level, is having its impact on the activities of the BJD's youth wing.

The party's youth wing, which feels neglected, has not organised any state-level convention since 2014. Besides, it could organise conventions only in two of the state's six zones.

"As the government is promoting the voluntary force to be engaged in government-sponsored schemes at the grassroots level, youths are finding it more alluring to join the vahini than the party's youth wing," a senior leader of the BJD's youth wing said.

So far, more than 3.5 lakh youths have been enrolled in the vahini. Last year, the BJD had set a target to raise the membership of its youth wing by 20 lakh, but it couldn't.

"We have miserably failed to achieve the target even though a year has already passed," said another youth leader.

Several leaders admitted that the youth wing was "being treated like a step son by the party," but no one was willing to be quoted on the issue.

"Several youth leaders who had worked hard over the decades to make the party vibrant have distanced themselves from the organisation after the voluntary force was raised. With the formation of the Biju Yuva Vahini, the role of younger leaders has become limited. Even young MLAs are no more active in the party's youth wing," said another leader.

However, sports minister Chandra Sarathi Behera, whose department is in charge of the Biju Yuva Vahini, and BJD's youth wing president Amresh Patri did not agree with the view of several youth leaders.

Behera said: "There is no connection between the Biju Yuva Vahini and party's youth wing. Both are independent organisations. The vahini includes all youths irrespective of party affiliations. They are not involved in the party work."

He said: "The chief minister is mobilising the youth to do better work for the cause of the society and the state. There is no politics involved in it. As part of the initiative, the chief minister will launch "I am Hero" programme in Cuttack on Monday. The programme will try to identify the local heroes of the state and later felicitate them."

Behera said while the party's youth wing was doing its work, the government was trying to mobilise youth through its innovative programmes.

Patri also echoed what Behera said. "There has been no impact on our growth because of the vahini. In fact, the youth wing has achieved what it had not been able to do in the last 10 years."

Asked why the BJD youth wing's membership did not increase significantly, he said: "The process is going on. It's difficult to quote the exact number of youths enrolled in the organisation."

He said: "Our focus at this moment is to move to the grassroots level. If the party decides to organise state-level youth convention, we might do it in October-November."