: After former Odisha Chief Secretary Bijay Patnaik, four other retired bureaucrats joined Indian National Congress here on Sunday.
Former IAS officers Panchanan Das and Biswanath Acharya and retired OAS officers Ravindra Nath Mishra and Uddhab Kar were inducted into the grand old political party in the presence of Odisha PCC president Sarat Patnaik and the party’s State in-charge A Chellakumar at the Congress Bhawan.
The PCC president called upon party cadres and general public to throw away the BJD Government from power in the 2024 elections as the Government during its 23-year-old rule has only been creating smokescreens while claiming pro-people welfare activities.
In February this year, Bijay Patnaik, who had superannuated from service in 2013, joined the Congress to strengthen the party in the State.
Recently, the party has suspended two senior leaders, Barabati-Cuttack MLA Mohammed Moquim and former Odisha Congress working president Chiranjib Biswal, for their alleged anti-party activities.
On Friday, the OPCC expelled one of its general secretaries, Narayan Jena, from primary membership of the party for voicing against the OPCC president in violation of party norms.