Rumours swept in the political circles here on Thursday that senior Congress leader and leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Bhupinder Singh is on the verge of resigning from the party.
There were also speculations that Singh is likely to join the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ahead of the general elections.Some Congress leaders telephoned The Pioneer office here to ascertain the veracity of the strong rumours about Singh’s political move.
Several attempts to contact Singh over his mobile phone failed as the phone was constantly switched off. One of his assistants, when asked, said the leader had switched off the phone as he was unwell and taking rest at his official residence. He added that Singh’s landline was dead.
Further significantly, Singh abstained from the Congress screening committee meeting held in New Delhi on Thursday for selection of candidates for the elections. Singh, who now represents the Narla Assembly constituency in Kalahandi district, is known to be sore with the party leadership for not considering his request to be the Congress candidate from the Kalahandi lok Sabha seat.
Senior Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das, who is the sitting Kalahandi MP, questions as to why he should be denied the lok Sabha ticket this time when he had won by an impressive margin of votes in the 2009 elections when there was a strong BJD wave across the State.
