Four months ahead of the general elections, wrangling in the Pradesh Congress reached a crescendo with a section of the party demanding resignation of Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikant Jena for his alleged anti-party activities.
“Being a Minister in the Union Cabinet, Srikant had never lost an opportunity to criticise the State unit Congress and its leaders. He had blamed the Congress chief ministers who ruled the State from 1980 to 2000 for its backwardness.
This amounts to gross indiscipline calling for strong action against Srikant for his anti-party activities,” senior Congress leader Arya Kumar Janendra told a media conference here on Wednesday.
The uncalled for utterances of Srikant against past Congress governments and chief ministers have not only embarrassed the party, but also demoralised the Congress workers ahead of the 2014 general elections, Janendra said.
Describing him as a political opportunist, the Congress Seva Dal leader said Srikant, who started his political career on anti-Congress platform, took shelter in the Congress for his political survival after Janata Dal lost its relevance in the State.
His criticism of former chief ministers J B Patnaik, Hemananda Biswal and Giridhar Gamang for doing nothing for the development of the State has not gone well with the party workers. Srikant has questioned the wiseness of the party’s Central leadership for selecting these three leaders to lead the State Government, Janendra remarked.
“If Srikant is not happy with the functioning of the Congress, he should immediately resign from the Government and the party as well,” he said.
If the party could expel a senior leader like Soumya Ranjan Patnaik for no fault, Janendra said there is every reason to take action against Srikant for indulging in anti-party activities so brazenly.
A memorandum seeking Srikant’s removal from the Union Council of Ministers was submitted to Pradesh Congress president Jayadev Jena on Wednesday.
Janendra, one of the signatories, said a delegation from the State will meet AICC president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi to press for Srikant’s removal from the Union Ministry.