BHUBANESWAR: The Congress on Tuesday appointed senior party leader and former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das as the next president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC).
Das will succeed Sarat Pattanayak who had resigned from the post in July last year after the dismal performance of the party in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. The post was vacant since the last eight months.
Das was the chairman of the campaign committee of the party for the 2024 elections and had resigned owning moral responsibility for the party’s defeat. His appointment as the OPCC president comes at a time when the Congress is trying to revive the party and position itself as a viable alternative to BJP and BJD.
Das, however, faces a daunting task ahead as he was chosen by the high command over several other formidable contenders including former Union minister Srikant Jena, former MLA Mohammed Moquim and former OPCC president Jayadev Jena. He will also have to contend with the inherent factionalism in the party and its diminishing support base in the state.
The emergence of BJP as the ruling party and strong presence of BJD in the Opposition despite its defeat in the 2024 elections is likely to make the task of Das all the more difficult.
In a video message, Das said he would try to win back the confidence of the people for the party. The former Union minister said he will also take all leaders and members along in the task to rebuild the party in the state, and hoped they would cooperate with him.
Das is no stranger to Odisha politics and has held various organisational posts of the party in the state as well as the Centre. He said he would utilise his experience to take Congress to all households in the state.
A three-time MP from the Kalahandi Lok Sabha seat, Das was the deputy minister of Youth Affairs and Sports between 1989 and 1990, and minister of state for Railways from 1990 to 1991. He was also a Janata Party MLA from Bhawanipatna Assembly seat from 1985 to 1989. He had contested the 2024 election from the Narla Assembly seat unsuccessfully. However, his son Sagar Das won the Bhawanipatna Assembly seat on a Congress ticket.