BHUBANESWAR: Senior Congress leader and former MLA from Barabati-Cuttack constituency Mohammed Moquim has been expelled over alleged 'anti-party activities'.
“This is for the information of all concerned that AICC has approved the proposal for the expulsion of Mohammed Moquim from the primary membership of the party, due to anti-party activities,” Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das said in a statement on Monday.
The disciplinary action against Moquim followed his December 8 letter to Sonia Gandhi criticising the leadership of All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and the OPCC president.
He had sought serious introspection on the continuous defeat of the party in successive elections in the state and across the country and pressed for a complete overhaul of the party’s functioning including structural reorganisation and strategies. While raising questions on the leadership of Das as the OPCC president, he had also pointed fingers at AICC president Kharge and Rahul. The party was no longer able to connect with the people and particularly the youth, he had complained.
While insinuating at the advanced age of Kharge, Moquim had also pointed towards the inaccessibility of Rahul. Stating that he was unable to meet Rahul for three years as a party MLA, Moquim said he had not been able to take up crucial issues with the high command.
Responding to his expulsion, Moquim said he had taken the right step after due deliberation. “We are such a big party but we are unable to connect to people in every state. The high command is not meeting us and we are also unable to communicate with them. So as a true Congress worker, I expressed my thoughts to Sonia ji through a letter,” he said.
Moquim said he had followed Rahul Gandhi who always says ‘daro mat’ to speak the truth. “I had shared the thoughts with Sonia ji through the letter, the truth in the party and how to reform the party, but was instead expelled from the party,” he said.
About his future course of action, Moquim said he would consult his supporters before taking a decision. The former MLA said his letter to Sonia Gandhi reflected the feelings of countless leaders and workers of Congress in Odisha. Moquim was elected to the Assembly in 2019 from the Cuttack-Barabati seat on a Congress ticket. His daughter Sofia Firdous was elected to the Assembly from the same seat on a Congress ticket in 2024. Moquim was earlier suspended from the Congress in July 2023 for giving a statement against the state party leadership at a function here in Bhubaneswar when Sarat Pattanayak was the OPCC president.
Meanwhile, Congress veteran and former OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik has come out openly in support of Moquim. Stating that his contribution to the growth of Congress in the state and particularly Cuttack district is immense, Patnaik said because of him Congress won two consecutive Assembly elections from the difficult seat. “Leaders like Moquim are required in the party. The leadership should take him back into Congress,” he said.