BHUBANESWAR: As the tussle among senior leaders seems to be going out of hand, general secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC) and Odisha in-charge A Chellakumar on Monday, August 30, 2021, issued a strong warning to dissidents who had targeted the State leadership in recent days and asked them to quit the party if they want to do so.
Chellakumar, who reached here on Monday on a three-day visit to the State, said if such leaders quit it will have no impact on the party. “Many leaders have left the Congress in the past, but the party has always emerged stronger,” he said, adding that criticism of president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik by Congress whip in the Assembly Tara Prasad Bahinipati was due to a misunderstanding. He, however, said no action will be taken against Bahinipati as he has already accepted his mistake.
Bahinipati made a volte-face on the day and said all issues between him and Patnaik have been resolved. There was a change of attitude in Bahinipati after he had a discussion with Chellakumar on Sunday over telephone. Besides, he had discussion with Patnaik on Monday morning. “All issues have been sorted out. Patnaik is like my elder brother. I had said all these things in a fit of anger,” Bahinipati said, adding that the party will go ahead in the State under his leadership.
The legislator said he will also discuss with party MP from Koraput Saptagiri Ulaka and OPCC working president Pradip Majhi to resolve differences in the district unit. Factional feud in Koraput unit had come to the fore after Bahinipati opposed the re-induction of former MLA of Laxmipur Kailash Chandra Kulesika to the party without his knowledge. Bahinipati’s outburst against Patnaik had come after a press conference addressed by Ulaka at Jeypore in which Kulesika was sitting on the dais.