When Congress president Sonia Gandhi appointed the party’s old loyal guard Sarat Pattanayak as the new Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) chief on May 23, there were mixed reactions among the party cadres as well as the general public. Pattanayak had the Herculean task of facing the Brajrajnagar by-election on July 31, just after a week of the announcement.
But the result of Brajarajnagar by-poll came as a big prize for the new State Congress president. The Congress which used to end up with the forfeiture of deposit and a disastrous third position in the successive Assembly by-elections since 2019 general election, save Tirtol, could score the second rank in Brajrajnagr by-poll and pushed the BJP’s candidate and its former MLA Radharani Panda to a humiliating third position.
The by-poll result of the Congress raised the confidence of the party cadres and the public on the new party chief. Though the other aspirants for the State leadership post were in low spirit after the appointment of Pattanayak, the Brajrajnagar victory of the Congress slowly cooled them down. Pattanayak celebrated his assumption of office in a gentle manner without much pomp and ceremony that used to happen earlier. He focused on field visits. Pattanayak has been moving to the districts to build contact with the Congress cadres. He also has given promises of free electricity and other welfare schemes if Congress comes to power. The field movement approach of the State Congress president seems to be gathering momentum in the organisation.
In the meanwhile, he could not get time to focus on the co-operative elections in the State which took place last month. The next task for him is to carry his folks together for the President election, scheduled on July 18. It is evident that both the BJP and the BJD are playing the tribal card in Odisha in the President election as the State has 23% of tribal population. It is sure that the BJD and the BJP shall use the anti- tribal voting stand of Congress in the forthcoming elections, which might come as a challenge for the new PCC president.
The most important task before Pattanayak is to revamp the party organisation from the Panchayat to the State level. Every PCC president used to put new people in the district and State committees but they don’t perform after a few days. Therefore, it is important to not only put the loyalists in various posts but also to assess their capability for each post. The appointments should not worsen the groupism situation in party too.
It has been seen in the past that the State Congress did not follow protest and campaign activities in a continuous manner to activate the organisation. Though some activities were carried out at the State level, there was almost absence of protest activities at the Assembly constituency level. Similarly, the Central campaigns were not carried forward to the districts. The posters and banners of different Central campaigns were not seen inside the PCC campus. This gives an impression to the voters that the State Congress leaders are compromising with the BJD and the BJP which are in power at the State and the Centre respectively. The State Congress leaders must behave inside and outside the Assembly in such a manner that the voters will repose faith on them. Rahul Gandhi can give some percentage of votes to the State Congress due to his protest activities but the State and the constituency leaders must earn the Lok Sabha and Assembly votes by their own hard efforts.
As there is only one and a half years to the general election, the PCC president has to initiate constituency electoral work, identifying prospective Parliament and Assembly Constituencies and studying the competitors’ activities. The Congress was in power during 1995-2000 and the emergence of the BJD and the BJP have been diluting its base since then. The 2009 general election was a good year for the Congress in the State in which it had gained five Lok Sabha seats such as Sundargarh, Bargarh, Sambalpur, Kalahandi and Nabarangpur. But the 2019 general election gave worse results, with only 13% vote share in Lok Sabha election, 16% vote share in Assembly election, nine MLAs and one MP. Pradip Majhi, the former Nabarangpur MP has left the party after 2019. Thus there is a need to identify new and old leaders in Lok Sabha and Assembly Constituencies to fill up the vacancy created due to the defection of party leaders over a period of time.
In electoral politics, money plays an important role now- a- days and the Congress is weak in finance at both Centre and the State level. But rich PCC presidents and working presidents could not deliver results in the past either. What is important therefore is not the wealth of the PCC president but an orgnaisational plan to raise finance for the State-unit. Similarly, the spokespersons, the media cell and the IT cell must be active. It is often seen that the young generation is not aware of the party’s contribution to the State. The State unit must prepare a list of the work done by the past Congress Governments in each district, along with the work of the Union Governments and publicise the same in various meetings and through posters and leaflets.
In the past, the Congress has tested various leadership criteria like caste, region, age and wealth in the State. This time the party seems to be testing the loyalty and organisational experience factor of the State unit leader. Since 2014, there has been constant drifting of the Congress leaders and the caders to the BJP and the BJD. If the new PCC president stops this process to a larger extent, then he wins half the 2024-battle against the BJD and the BJP.
(The writer is a freelance journalist. Mob: 9439178588)