BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik on Friday dismissed the outburst against him by Itish Pradhan, convenor of State-unit of NSUI, as a manifestation of his frustration.
“The outburst of Itish shows his frustration. He had contested the Assembly elections and lost it by a huge margin. He is trying to blame me for that,” Patnaik said after returning from New Delhi on Friday afternoon. Responding to Itish’s demand for his expulsion from the party, the OPCC president said the performance of Congress in other states also fell far short of expectations and results for the party were not good in many areas. “Did leaders of all these states join hands with their electoral rivals. I feel pity for Itish for his immature statement and lack of any understanding of politics,” he said.
Sources in Congress said Itish is likely to draw disciplinary action for his statement against the OPCC president at a press conference. Odisha in-charge Jeetendra Singh said on Thursday that making such statements at a media conference will certainly draw disciplinary action. Singh said Pradhan could have taken up these issues in party forum.
Itish had told media persons on Thursday that Patnaik had joined hands with BJD and promoted dynastic politics by giving ticket to his son to contest Lok Sabha polls from Balasore constituency. “The anti-party activities of OPCC president will not be tolerated anymore. We will give him sleepless nights and not allow him to enter Odisha,” he said.