BHUBANESWAR: The State committee of the Congress is likely to be announced next week. Sources said that after the announcement of the media committee and reconstitution of the Professional Congress unit, state office-bearers and block committees will be announced.
While there is no word from the party leadership about the possibility of a change of guard at the State level, the pro-changers expect that a new organisational head will be announced along with other committees.
Names of two senior leaders, Bhakta Charan Das and Sarat Patnaik are doing the rounds as possible replacement of incumbent president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik.
Like BJD and BJP, Congress has also decided to focus on Western Odisha districts ahead of the panchayat and urban local body polls.
While Das is now a secretary of All India Congress Committee and was a former railway minister from the State, Patnaik has represented Balangir constituency in the Lok Sabha. However, loyalists of Patnaik maintained that there is no possibility of a change now.
They said that State committees and other office-bearers will be announced to prepare the groundwork for the coming local elections. The State Congress has been functioning without office-bearers for the last 1.5 years.