At a time when by-elections to two Assembly seats have already be notified, the prospects of the Congress appear to be far from impressive basically for two reasons, lack of able leadership and weak organisation at grassroots level. “Due to gradual weakening of the organisation at the grassroots level, the party’s vote share in the State has been depleting every election. The party has come down to third position in the Assembly. The party badly needs restructuring under a leader who can attract youths,” said a political analyst.
Many in the party are optimistic that AICC Odisha in-charge Dr A Chellakumar has the capability to boost the organisation. A successful Tamil Nadu MP, Chellakumar was earlier AICC in-charge for Goa, where during the last general elections, the Congress had a very neck-and-neck fight with the BJP.