BHUBANESWAR: Despite its worst ever performance in the panchayat polls, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) today claimed that the party is still strong at the grassroots level.
OPCC treasurer Mohammed Moquim said more than 2100 Congress supported sarpanch and panchayat samiti members have been elected in the panchayat polls. Congress-supported candidates are going to form panchayat samities in more than 110 out 314 blocks of the State, he said.
Though the Congress had won 128 Zilla Parishad zones out of the 851 in 2012 panchayat polls, the number has further slipped to around 60 during this polls. Moquim said the Congress has accepted the verdict given by the people and the party will analyse the election results. OPCC president Prasad Harichandan has already taken moral responsibility for the party's disappointing performance in the panchayat polls, he said.
Stating that BJP leaders should not show their arrogance because of the party's improved performance which is temporary, he said and added that Congress will initiate steps to correct its errors to gain the trust of the people.
Moquim also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remark on Odisha's poverty and starvation. "Modi should not forget that out of the 17 years of BJD rule in Odisha, BJP was in government for nine long years," he said. Party spokesperson Sulochana Das and Girija Shankar Das were also present.