BHUBANESWAR: The state leadership of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) is likely to be changed in the third week of this month.
Sources said that a new president of the state Congress will be announced to replace the incumbent Niranjan Patnaik following the miserable performance of the party in the panchayat as well as the urban local body (ULB) elections. Either Barabati-Cuttack MLA Mohammed Moquim or former union minister Bhakta Charan Das will be appointed as the next president.
The demand for a change in the OPCC president had intensified following below par performance of the party in the local elections. A majority of nine MLAs from the party and several other senior leaders had raised the demand for a change in leadership of the party.
Patnaik had resigned from the post of OPCC president following the party’s debacle in the 2019 general elections. However, his resignation was not accepted by the high command and subsequently the Covid-19 pandemic also put a break on the overhauling of the party apparatus in the State.
As political activities have resumed after the Covid-19 pandemic, the national leadership has decided to hand over the party president post to a younger leader.