Brushing aside media reports of a rift in the party, the Congress MlAs, who returned on Wednesday after meeting party high command Sonia Gandhi and second-in-command Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, described their Delhi visit as a courtesy call.
While emerging out of the airport here, MlA Prafulla Majhi said, “It was totally a courtesy call. There was other agenda.” Another MlA Krushna Chandra Sagaria, who returned along with Majhi, also repeated Majhi’s statement by saying it was a courtesy visit.
Notably, Majhi and Sagaria were among 12 party MlAs who met Sonia and Rahul in Delhi raising speculations about revival of dissidence in the State unit of the party.
When the MlAs were asked why the PCC president and the leader of Opposition were kept in the dark about their Delhi visit, Majhi said, “It’s not necessary to tell the leader of Opposition wherever we go. We had no agenda. Had there been an agenda, we would have certainly informed them,” he added.
Sagaria in a defensive way said they had gone on an exposure visit since Tuesday was the first day of the current session of Parliament. like other leaders and MPs meet each other there, they had also gone there to meet all, he added.
“We (MlAs) had all gone to Delhi for different works, and it was a coincidence that we met each other at the Parliament,” Sagaria said. He asserted that there was no political agenda with regard to removal or rehabilitation of anybody.
However, reliable sources said these legislators had together spoken extensively against the State party leadership before the high command. But Sonia Gandhi advised them to meet the PCC president and discuss the issues, added the sources.
Notably, senior party leader lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra had told reporters that the delegation was in Delhi to complain about the functioning of Opposition Chief Whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati.