BHUBANESWAR: The dissident movement of the State Congress is likely to gain momentum in January in view of a possibility of a change in the party’s organisational structure.The dissidents are demanding the ouster of OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik and appointment of Mohammad Moquim in his place for revival of the party in Odisha.
The dissidents claim to have met several senior national leaders of the Congress, including party chief Sonia Gandhi, at New Delhi to press for their demand. They had successfully roped in several women leaders who were at the national capital in December last year to lobby for Patnaik’s ouster. However, except some assurances, the repeated visits of the dissidents to New Delhi have not yielded any positive result.
However, to prove his popularity among the partymen, Moquim had a get-together of party leaders at a hotel here on Friday. Several senior leaders of the party, including former minister Kanhu Charan Lenka, leaders Gurupada Nanda, Sameer Routray, Ramakant Mishra, Kailash Acharya, Manoranjan Das and Sanat Das, had attended the dinner. Besides, a large number of party workers from several places had attended the get-together.
Though the dissidents have stepped up efforts for removal of Patnaik, none of the eight other MLAs have openly come out in favour of a change in the leadership. Moquim represents Cuttack Sadar Constituency in the Assembly.
The demand for Patnaik’s ouster has gathered momentum after 2019 Assembly polls in which the Congress number in the Assembly dropped from 16 to 9 and the party slumped to the third position behind BJP. Besides, Congress candidates lost their deposits in elections to Patkura Assembly seat and by-poll to Bijepur seat.
The Congress high command had rejected the resignation of Patnaik from the post after the polls. The Congress has instead started organisational restructuring under the leadership of Patnaik.