BHUBANESWAR: After the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) came out openly for the ouster of the State leadership and demanded appointment of senior leader Niranjan Patnaik as the next president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) immediately, the camp of Prasad Harichandan, the incumbent State chief, targeted CLP leader Narasingh Mishra. “If Harichandan will have to go, the Leader of the Opposition (Narasingh Mishra) should also be changed,” former minister and father-in-law of Harichandan, Suresh Kumar Routray, told mediapersons on Monday. Congress chief whip in the Assembly Tara Prasad Bahinipati, however, dismissed the demand of Routray and said it has no relevance. “As a former MLA, his demand has no relevance. It is MLAs who decide the CLP leader and the legislators have re-affirmed their confidence in the leadership of Mishra,” he said.
Sources said some of the leaders during their meeting with the team of observers from All-India Congress Committee (AICC) had demanded that the CLP leader should be changed and had raised questions on the performance of MLAs in the Assembly. However, all the MLAs and many senior leaders had countered the demand and maintained that Mishra should continue as the CLP leader. Meanwhile, activists of State unit of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) came in a motorcycle rally to Congress Bhawan in support of the demand for appointment of Patnaik as the next OPCC president.
The AICC observers on Monday met party leaders from different districts in groups to elicit their opinion on the demand for a change in State leadership. While many leaders from different districts argued in favour of Patnaik, a group of leaders from Kalahandi district proposed the name of former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das as the next State president of the party. BK Hariprasad, general secretary of AICC in-charge Odisha, said the observers will submit report to party vice-president Rahul Gandhi soon. Leader of AICC team and former Union minister Jeetendra Singh said the team will submit its report to the high command soon.