BHUBANESWAR: The State Executive meeting of the Congress to review the party’s performance in 2014 elections has again been deferred till the second week of August even as the demand for overhauling the State unit gains ground after the humiliating defeat in the Assembly and the Lok Sabha polls.
Sources said the Antony committee, set up to find out the reasons behind the party’s debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, is yet to submit its report and has sought extension of time.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Jaydev Jena said the high command will initiate any action on the basis of the recommendations of the Antony Committee.
Meanwhile, the demand for a change in the State leadership of the party, which was mainly responsible for one of the worst ever performances, is growing. Several senior leaders of the party have started dissociating themselves from the programmes initiated by the present State leadership.
“It is for the first time that the OPCC president has continued in the post for more than three months after such a humiliating defeat of the party in both the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections,” a senior Congress leader said.
The OPCC president, however, said both general secretary in charge of Odisha B K Hariprasad and secretary Subhonkar Sarkar will visit the State in the second week of August to interact with the Lok Sabha and the Assembly candidates and find out the reasons behind such an unprecedented defeat. Jena said he will not be present during the meeting of AICC office-bearers with the candidates.
Jena said he has already submitted a detailed report to party high command on the reasons behind the party’s debacle for the fourth consecutive time in the State. The Congress leader said he had taken moral responsibility for the defeat and is waiting for a decision from the party high command in this regard.
The OPCC president had met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi last week and discussed the state of party’s organisation in Odisha.