ROURKELA: Is it end of the road for the Congress in Sundargarh Lok Sabha constituency and seven Assembly constituencies under it? After the severe drubbing, the party’s prospect of recovering before the 2024 elections looks remote amid internal bickering and self-centric leadership of Grand Old Party.The recent poll debacle has shocked and demoralised the committed Congressmen in the district. They pointed out that a desperate leadership of the party fielded firebrand tribal leader and Birmitrapur MLA George Tirkey as its Sundargarh Lok Sabha nominee. But, neither George managed to reach out to all district Congress rank and file nor the senior district leaders cooperated with him, they said.
The results are for all to see. While George had to contend with the third spot, the difference of votes between him and winner Jual Oram of BJP was a staggering 2.32 lakh votes.The party also did not perform well in the Assembly segments. In the Congress bastion of Sundargarh Assembly, party’s candidate Amita Biswal, daughter of former Chief Minister Hemanand Biswal, lost the deposit and her vote difference with the BJD winner was 71,031.
In Talsara, sitting Congress MLA Prafulla Majhi ended up in the third spot. In Birmitrapur, A C George’s son Rohit Joseph Tirkey too slipped to the third spot. In RN Pali Assembly segment, Congress nominee Prashant Sethi was at the third spot getting 24,789 votes less than the BJD winner.In Rourkela Assembly seat, party’s candidate Biren Senapati lost the deposit and his vote difference with the BJD winner was 46,900. The only saving grace for the party was C S Razen Ekka, who won from Rajgangpur Assembly segment by a thin margin of 946 votes.
Congress insiders blame George for fielding his son from Birmitrapur Assembly constituency. They said the decision boomeranged and also sent out a wrong message. The damage was done by former Congress CM Hemanand Biswal. One of his daughters Sunita, after quitting the Congress, contested from Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat on BJD ticket against George while another daughter Amita contested for Congress from Sundargarh Assembly constituency.
Congress insiders said Hemanand, who belongs to the influential ‘Praja Bhuiyan’ community, sabotaged Congress’ prospects from where his daughters were fielded. They said Hemanand clandestinely worked to ensure Sunita’s victory. He also supported Amita which left the party’s rank confused. Sundargarh District Congress Committee president B M Tripathy accepted moral responsibility for the defeat and cited infighting and Modi factor for the party’s pathetic show in the district. He said after analysing the reasons behind the poor show, corrective measures would be taken to prepare the party for 2024.