ROURKELA: After his exit from Congress, four-time Birmitrapur MLA George Tirkey has admitted that he committed a blunder by quitting BJD in 2006. Rumours about George going back to BJD gained credence after the 65-year-old leader said he is ready if the ruling party considers his return. George said when he joined the BJD, there was an alliance with BJP. Of the seven Assembly seats in Sundargarh district, BJD had two and BJP the remaining five including his traditional stronghold of Birmitrapur.
“Due to alliance compulsion, BJD could not get the Birmitrapur Assembly constituency from BJP. On the spur of the moment, I quit BJD in January 2006. It was a big blunder,” he said. George, who is recovering from ill health, said after quitting Congress, offers have come from different parties. But due to illness, he is yet to take a decision in this regard.
The senior leader informed that he had to sell his landed property to revive the Congress. But the party has no future due to indiscipline and infighting. George, who won twice from Birmitrapur in 1995 and 2000 on JMM ticket, had joined BJD in 2002. After resigning from BJD, he won from Birmitrapur in 2009 as an Independent. He founded his own political party Samta Kranti Dal in 2014 and simultaneously won from Birmitrapur for the fourth time. He briefly returned to JMM before joining Congress in 2018.
In 2019, he contested the elections from Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat on Congress ticket. His politically novice son Rohit Joseph Tirkey was the party candidate in Birmitrapur Assembly seat. However, both lost the elections. The electoral loss in 2019 and not being allowed to play a dominating role for the Congress in Sundargarh besides the party’s dismal show in the rural and urban elections are the reasons behind George quitting the grand old party.