BHUBANESWAR: Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and senior Congress leader Narasingh Mishra met party vice-president Rahul Gandhi at New Delhi on Thursday fuelling speculation over organisational changes in the State unit.
The meeting of Mishra with Rahul has assumed importance because of the Congress Legislature Party’s (CLP) consistent demand for the ouster of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Prasad Harichandan after the party’s unimpressive performance in the panchayat polls.
The two leaders met days after All India Congress Committee (AICC) announced a three-member team to assess the situation in Odisha and recommend the name of next OPCC president. Mishra, who met Rahul for nearly 30 minutes in the afternoon declined to reveal details of his discussion. “We discussed political situation of the country and Odisha,” Mishra said.
Sources said, the team from AICC will visit Odisha soon to interact with party leaders and workers to elicit opinion about next OPCC president and submit a report to AICC president Sonia Gandhi.
Former minister Niranjan Patnaik and former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das have emerged front runners for the post of OPCC president. While the CLP is supporting Patnaik as next OPCC president, Das has got the backing of the Harichandan camp.