ROURKELA: The resignation of Rourkela District Congress Committee (RDCC) president George Tirkey has served a fresh blow to the Congress in the politically-sensitive Sundargarh district.
Known as a firebrand tribal leader, George tendered his resignation to the OPCC President Niranjan Patnaik on March 29, expressing his displeasure over the affairs of the party in Sundargarh.
Describing the OPCC’s disciplinary committee as deaf and dumb, George alleged that his complaints to the OPCC and AICC yielded no response and those indulging in indiscipline were rewarded rather than punished.
He said, the Congress faced humiliating defeat in the Sundargarh Zilla Parishad and Urban Local Body polls in the district due to no support from the OPCC. Even his proposal to bring the Birmitrapur, RN Pali, Rourkela and Bonai assembly constituencies (AC) under the RDCC jurisdiction for effective outcome was ignored.
The Sundargarh District Congress Committee (SDCC) has six of seven ACs in the district under its control, but the SDCC is organisationally dysfunctional, he stated, adding that though he unsuccessfully contested the Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat in 2019, he was not consulted on selection of candidates for the just concluded rural and urban polls in the district.
George is now undergoing treatment at a private hospital at Bhubaneswar. Sources close to him said, before leaving for Bhubaneswar on March 28, George had held several meetings with his supporters who nudged him to resign. The buzz is George may join the BJD.
A four-time Birmitrapur MLA, George had quit JMM and joined BJD in 2002, but quit in 2006. He won the Birmitrapur assembly seat in 2009 as Independent and and retained the seat in 2014. During 2014 he had found his own political party Samata Kranti Dal and a couple of years later briefly returned to his parent party JMM. In 2018, he joined the Congress at Delhi which revived hopes for the party in Sundargarh. He however lost the Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat in 2019.