BHUBANESWAR: With the back-to-back loss of deposits in two bypolls, Dhamnagar and Padampur, the unease within the state unit of Congress are threatening to break the lid as several senior leaders have openly begun to raise voices against the leadership. Reacting to the successive humiliation at the hustings, some also have gone to the extent of alleging that Congress votes are being sold by the party leadership.
Targeting Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattanayak, Congress whip in the Assembly Tara Prasad Bahinipati asked how did he know that the party candidate will be defeated a day before the Padampur bypoll result was announced.
Bahinipati said that Congress candidate Satya Bhusan Sahu had got 32,787 votes in the 2019 Assembly election. But, he managed only 3,594 votes in the bypoll. “Where did 90 per cent of Congress votes go,” he asked and alleged that ‘these votes were sold’. Leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP)
Narasingh Mishra also pointed towards both the losses and demanded the results be reviewed. “Corrective measures should be initiated when there is still time or else it will be too late to do anything to prevent the continuous downward slide of the party,” he said. Even the out-of-favour leader and party MLA from Barabati-Cuttack Mohammed Moquim did not fail to take a dig at the leadership. He warned that if such state-of-affairs continued, Congress will be wiped out from the state.
Stating that Congress candidates are now polling votes on par with NOTA, he alleged that it is the handwork of the leadership. “Some leaders become busy about how to transfer the votes as soon as bypolls are announced,” he alleged. Another senior MLA Suresh Kumar Routray also expressed concern over the state of the Congress in Odisha.
While the party’s dismal performance in two successive by-elections has raised questions on the goal - from 9 to 90 - set by the state Congress chief for the revival of the party, Pattanayak, however, said that the Padampur result will not have any demoralising effect on the organisation or cadre.
“We will regroup and fight the 2024 elections unitedly,” he said. On allegations that the Congress votes were sold, Pattanayak said that if anybody has proof he should submit it and strong action will be taken against those who have ditched the party.