BHUBANESWAR: A group of dissident Congress leaders on Thursday met party president Sonia Gandhi and is reported to have demanded the removal of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik.The leaders, including former OPCC general secretary Biswajit Dash, former spokesperson Nikunja Prasad and former Cuttack DCC general secretary Satyanand Rout, were camping at New Delhi from last week to meet Sonia and other senior leaders.
The dissidents in Odisha want Patnaik to be replaced by present Cuttack-Barabati Congress MLA Mohammad Moquim. The group maintained that there is no chance of Congress revival in Odisha under Patnaik and he should be replaced immediately by Moquim. Among others, the dissidents have already met former Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi and Odisha in-charge Jitendra Singh with their demand.
Sources said another group of party leaders, including former office-bearers, former MLAs and senior leaders will visit New Delhi in the first week of December to impress upon the high command to change Patnaik immediately.The dissidents had met several times at Bhubaneswar and tried to enlist support of senior leaders to their cause before visiting New Delhi to take the issue to the High Command. However, Congress Odisha in-charge Singh had recently announced at New Dellhi that Patnaik will continue to be the OPCC president.
Soon after the 2019 election results were announced, Patnaik had resigned from the post. But his resignation was not accepted by the high command and he was asked to continue. Meanwhile, the party has already started the restructuring process of Congress in Odisha under the leadership of Patnaik.