BHUBANESWAR: Former Congress MLA from Parlakhemundi K Surya Rao resigned from the party on Tuesday blaming the leadership for its worst ever performance in the recently-concluded Assembly elections.
In a letter to president of All India Congress Committee (AICC) Rahul Gandhi, Rao said he won the 2014 election despite a wave in favour of the BJD.
“But from that day onwards, my services were always ignored by the party leadership despite best of my efforts,” he said.
Criticising the delay in giving him ticket for 2019 polls, Rao alleged that till March 23, there was no confirmation about this.
“The State leadership had announced to issue tickets to all sitting MLAs six months before the elections. But I was given ticket on the last day of filing of nomination,” he said and added that because of this, the rebel candidate in Parlakhemundi got a chance a create confusion.
The former MLA alleged that there was also no star campaigner of Congress to campaign in the constituency though senior BJP leaders including national president Amit Shah and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik campaigned for their respective candidates in Parlakhemundi.