BHUBANESWAR : After a gap of nearly a year, dissidence is back again in the State Congress with a group of former ministers and ex-MLAs camping at New Delhi to demand the removal of president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik.
Sources said the dissidents could meet KC Venugopal, organising secretary of the AICC, to press for their demand. However, they had to come back with an assurance that Odisha matter can be taken up only after February 15 because of the ongoing Budget session of Parliament.
Former MLA Chinmoy Behura, who was part of the delegation which met Venugopal, said they are not against the OPCC president. He said the Congress organisation in Odisha needs a change as the OPCC president is past his prime because of his age.
Politically also, Congress is going down in the State day by day as there is no coordination between the senior leaders, he said and added that some recent by-polls have shown that the party’s votes are shifting towards the BJP. If this type of situation goes on for some more months, no Congressmen will be left in the villages, he said.
Odisha in-charge of Congress A Chellakumar, who is in Odisha, told mediapersons that anybody can go to New Delhi. “There is no bar on anybody from going to New Delhi,” he said. However, he avoided any comment on the demand for removal of the OPCC president and restructuring of the party’s organisation in the State.