Senior Congress leader and former MlA Sitakanta Mohapatra on Monday charged PCC president Jayadev Jena with breach of party discipline by going public on internal party matters and threatening action against senior leaders without naming them.
The former MlA from Badachana told reporters here that the person in-charge of the party organisation is trying to destabilise it by making irresponsible statements in the media.
Mohapatra said he completely agrees with senior leader Narasingha Mishra’s comment that Jena’s statements about sabotage attempts by some party leaders during the last polls constituted a breach of party discipline.
He said Jena had issued a formal circular on the last day of the filing of nominations for the last phase polls, asking the party rebels to withdraw or face action. However, not a single one of them has been taken to task for the simple reason that some of these rebels enjoy the patronage of Jena himself, he alleged.
One such example is a rebel candidate in the Bari Assembly constituency who is pretty close to Jena, Mohapatra said. Although the PCC chief batted for this rebel, he was denied the party ticket due to last-minute manipulations by another influential leader. There are also other instances where Jena has put up dummy candidates, he alleged.
Mohapatra referred to serious charges brought up by some Congress ticket aspirants who have openly alleged that they were asked to cough up lakhs of rupees to get tickets. “This was never challenged or denied by the PCC president,” he said.
Mohapatra said he is preparing a comprehensive report on Jena’s activities since he was made the PCC chief and this would be sent to the party high command. It may be noted that Mohapatra’s son has this time contested as a rebel Congress candidate in the Badachana as he was not given party ticket.