ROURKELA: The fault lines within the Congress in Rourkela Assembly seat seem to be deepening as general secretary of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Biren Senapati snapped his ties with the party after a long association of 37 years.
In a letter to OPCC president Sarat Pattanayak on Sunday, Biren said due to continuous apathy of the top leadership and sidelining of party workers, the Congress has lost its relevance in Rourkela. “Issues hurting the Congress prospects were brought to the notice of the party higher-ups, but to no avail. After working for Congress for 37 years as a committed worker since my days in student politics, there is no point of further wasting time in the party,” he said.
Biren resigned from the post of permanent invitee of the Rourkela district Congress committee (RDCC) and primary membership of the party. He said for the last over two decades, the party organisation has gone from bad to worse and now heading towards no point of redemption. The central or state leaders have never made sincere efforts to revive the party or arrest its continuous deterioration. The Congress cannot be cured from indiscipline, factionalism, lack of trust and absence of participation in decision making.
About the Congress candidate from Rourkela BN Patnaik, Biren said the OPCC neither sought his opinion nor the candidate, after being nominated by the party, talked to him.
Congress insiders said in just two years, the RDCC has seen four presidents. Tribal leader and former Birmitrapur MLA George Tirkey quit the RDCC post and the party in March 2022. To fill up the vacuum, Debabrata Bihari was made the interim RDCC president for around a year. In November 2023, Rashmi Ranjan Padhi was appointed the RDCC president. But three months later, he was unceremoniously replaced with the incumbent president Rabi Ray for the lacklustre show of Congress during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on February 7.
RDCC president Rabi said he would try to bring Biren back to the party fold. He also assured of taking corrective actions at his level and said the Congress candidate would be asked to work in a team.