BHUBANESWAR: President of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik on Monday said he has again requested the All India Congress Committee (AICC) to accept his resignation.
Niranjan told media persons that he had resigned from the post on the day election results were announced. However, his resignation is yet to be accepted by AICC. “I had sent my resignation to the party president the day results of Assembly and Lok Sabha elections were announced. But, the party supremo is yet to accept my resignation,” he said.
During his previous three visits to New Delhi, he had requested the AICC to accept his resignation, said Niranjan. “I had requested the party chief again on Sunday to accept my resignation,” he said.
The OPCC president had resigned after the party’s miserable performance in 2019 elections. While the number of Assembly seats won by the Congress had dropped to 9 from 16 in 2014, the party was able to win only from Koraput Lok Sabha seat by a slender margin.
He, however, criticised the Centre for scrapping Article 370. “The manner in which the Centre scrapped the Article was not correct,” he said and added that people should have been taken into confidence in this matter. “The Centre has not explained to the people why Article 370 was enforced in Jammu and Kashmir in the first place. On the other hand, it has launched a vilification campaign against the Nehru and Gandhi families on the issue,” he said.
Meanwhile, the OPCC president on Monday welcomed the Rajiv Jyoti Sadbhavana Yatra at Congress Bhavan. The Yatra being organised from Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu for the last 28 years will proceed towards West Bengal touching Cuttack, Bhadrak and Balasore. It will reach New Delhi on August 20.