BHUBANESWAR: With Congress losing a sizeable chunk of ST and SC voters to BJD leading to its humiliating performance in successive elections in Odisha, the party has decided to focus on 57 Assembly seats earmarked for the two communities in the 2024 elections.
What ails the Congress is not that the voters have left it mainly for the ruling party in Odisha, the party is also facing a leadership crisis among the two communities. Adequate numbers of youth from the communities are not coming forward to join the party and boost its prospects.
Out of the 57 Assembly seats, 33 are earmarked for STs while the rest 24 are for SCs. The Congress’ base is dwindling over the years in Odisha and the representation of the party is just nine in the Assembly.
Surprisingly, the party does not have any representation in the 24 SC seats while it had won only two ST seats, Rajgangpur and Mohana, in the 2019 Assembly elections out of the total 33 ST constituencies in the state.
Less than two decades ago, the undivided Koraput district was considered to be a strong base of the party, which now does not have any MLA from the region. Admitting the party’s weak base in its traditional stronghold, a senior leader wondered how the outfit could attract voters amid a leadership crisis. The party has launched a leadership development mission (LDM) for the 57 ST and SC seats.
President of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Sarat Pattanayak told The New Indian Express that a meeting of senior leaders was held recently to discuss the issue. He said LDM will be strengthened in the 57 seats from the booth level as elections are less than five months away. It has been decided that committees will be constituted at the booth level and young leaders given charge.