ROURKELA: Struggling to set its house in order for the last more than two decades, the moribund Rourkela District Congress Committee (RDCC) received a fresh blow after widespread discontentment among party leaders and cadres came to the fore on Monday.
A day after the appointment of Gyenendra Das as Rourkela Youth Congress president, a host of former office bearers of the party’s wing tendered resignation en masse. Names of new office bearers of the RDCC and Youth Congress committee were announced on Sunday.
The Rourkela Youth Congress committee had become defunct a few months back after its president Prabod Das was elevated as the general secretary of Odisha Pradesh Youth Congress Committee (OPYCC). Leading the disgruntled Youth Congress leaders, Prabod had resigned from his new responsibility on Sunday and his loyalists followed suit the next day.
Accusing OPYCC president SR Lenka of violating the Congress constitution, Prabod claimed that Gyanendra at 39 has crossed the age limit of 35 years for the post. “Gyanendra joined Congress in 2019 and if the illegal appointment is not revoked immediately, we would protest before the Congress Bhawan at Bhubaneswar and also draw attention of the party high command at Delhi,” he said.
The outburst came a day after the RDCC in its meeting warned of strict disciplinary action against anti-party activities. A few days back, senior Congressman Badal Srichandan had resigned from the post of RDCC vice-president. Party insiders said he was not happy with his post.
The infighting between the old guard of Congress and the new camp led by RDCC president and former Birmitrapur MLA George Tirkey has come as a fresh embarrassment for the party. A Congress leader opposed to George said former chief minister Hemanand Biswal and other senior leaders from Sundargarh district were not accommodated in the new RDCC as special invitees.
Since 2000, the Congress had unsuccessfully fought the Rourkela Assembly seat five times and thrice faced the embarrassment of losing security deposits.Former secretary of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee Rashmi Ranjan Padhi said the unpleasant development does not bode well for the party and differences should be sorted out internally.