BHUBANESWAR: The State unit of Congress has been functioning with only three office-bearers for the last 11 months, waiting for restructuring of the organisation after it received a severe drubbing in the 2019 elections. President of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik and two working presidents, Pradip Majhi and Chiranjib Biswal are the only office-bearers who are continuing after the high command dissolved all committees and dismissed every office-bearer in August last year, two months after the elections.
The party does not have district or block unit presidents and its frontal units have also become non-functional even as a section of partymen have carried on lobbying for removal of the OPCC president, one of the few visible Congress politicians in the State. As the by-polls to Balasore and Tirtol assembly constituencies are likely to be held in September, the OPCC president has appointed committees for selection of candidates. Sources said the OPCC president had submitted recommendations for appointment of district presidents and was in the process of finalising the block presidents in March/ April, 2020. However, everything has been delayed because of the pandemic and the periodic lockdowns. Factional fight in the State unit has also affected functioning of the frontal organisations.
While the Youth Congress has been divided into two groups after appointment of a new State president, there are no office-bearers of the women and students’ wings. OPCC working president Pradip Majhi, however, said office-bearers are likely to be appointed within the next 10 to 15 days. He said the process of appointment of district presidents had been started by the OPCC president who visited 18 districts to interact with party leaders and workers before restructuring of the organisation. But everything has been suspended due to the pandemic, he said.
PARTY’S DILEMMA
President of OPCC Niranjan Patnaik and two working presidents, Pradip Majhi and Chiranjib Biswal are the only office-bearers
The party does not have district or block unit presidents and its frontal units have also become nonfunctional
Appointment has been delayed because of the pandemic