BHUBANESWAR: The factional fight within the Pradesh Congress deepened further with two more legislators of the party hitting out at AICC general secretary B K Hariprasad for the current crisis in the party.
Blaming Hariprasad for the rift between the party and the legislators, Congress MLA from Sundargarh Jogesh Singh today said the high command sent him to strengthen the party in the state, but he is doing exactly opposite.
Taking a jibe at Hariparasad, Singh said, "Haria is doing politics here. The high command had sent him here to strengthen the party organisations by resolving all issues amicably. But, he is doing exactly the opposite."
Apart from Singh, another MLA from the tribal dominated district Prafulla Majhi came down heavily on some senior leaders of the party accusing them of encouraging the intra-party squabble.
Alleging that some senior leaders are playing dirty politics and trying to engineer a split in the party, Majhi said those who are creating division among the MLAs should be expelled. He further
advised the state party leadership to stop playing the SC/ST card.
Reacting to the meeting of four MLAs with AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi, Majhi said this is an attempt to divide the Congress legislature party.
Majhi sought to know why other legislators of the party were not invited to the meeting with Rahul if the discussion was about panchayat elections. If such disagreement continues, it would adversely affect the party's prospect during panchayat polls.
The open criticism of Hariparasad and the state leadership came after two days of the meeting of four Congress MLAs with AICC vice president in New Delhi.
However, treasurer of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Mohammed Moquim, who accompanied the four legislators-Jacob Pradhan, Krushna Chandra Sagaria, Kailash Chandra Kulesika and Bhujabal Majhi- to New Delhi, came to the defence of PCC president Prasad Harichandan and Hariprasad.
Moquim said it was the decision of the AICC vice president to meet the four MLAs and all in the party should respect his decision and work unitedly under the leadership of Harichandan.
Meanwhile, Bhujabal Majhi has met leader of the Congress legislature party Narsingh Mishra.