ROURKELA: Despite the humiliating poll debacle in 2019, Congress in Sundargarh district continues to be a divided house. The warring camps of former Chief Minister Hemanand Biswal and former MLA George Tirkey are at loggerheads with both leaders showing no sign of burying the hatchet.
Party insiders said with Rourkela District Congress Committee (RDCC) and the Sundargarh District Congress Committee (SDCC) remaining dissolved, the Congress ranks and files are confused and demoralised.
With no official channel to take up organisational activities, both camps are competing against each other and using the Congress banner to hold their activities separately much to the embarrassment of the party.
After Hemanand won the Sundargarh constituency in 2009, the Congress organisation was divided into factions of Hemanand and former Congress Minister KC Patel, but it was not open.
Although, Hemanand had relegated to third place in 2014 election, his position in the party remained unchallenged with Patel not taking interest in Sundargarh politics.
In September 2018, Independent MLA and tribal leader George joined the Congress and with both the State and Central party leadership rating him highly, he fought the 2019 election from Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat.
However, not only did George end up third but the Congress lost five of the six Assembly candidates in Sundargarh district and two of them confiscated their security deposits in Rourkela and Sundargarh Assembly Constituencies.
George’s blaming Hemanand for the poll debacle and the latter’s retaliatory attack created a vertical division in Congress which continues till date.
On January 14, the AICC general secretary Jitendra Singh and secretary Mastan Ali, both in-charge of Odisha, had a meeting at Sundargarh town with the aim to revive the Congress.
“But, it was no more than a cosmetic attempt,” said a former Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) leader, adding that the OPCC is expected to appoint nominated presidents for SDCC and RDCC shortly to arrest further division of the party.
Former OPCC secretary Rashmi Ranjan Padhi claimed there is no factionalism, while former SDCC president Dushmanta Naik said the Congress has to pick up leaders having public appeal from the grassroots to lead the RDCC and SDCC.