Even though the State Congress unit has been on a denial mode on the question of internal dissent and feud, a style typical of former PCC chief Jayadev Jena who used to knock at the door of the high command against his detractors is often repeated in the party even after his replacement by Prasad Harichandan.
For, whether it is Harichandan himself or stalwart like lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra or leader of Opposition (loP) Narasingha Mishra, when a group led by either of these leaders goes to Delhi to meet Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the common perception is it must be some complaint against the rivals in the party taken to the Delhi court.
So, on Saturday when the 16 Congress MlAs led by loP Mishra camped in Delhi to meet Gandhi, with PCC chief Harichandan not showing up, again the same perception did the rounds.
The group of leaders led by Mishra raised the Mahanadi and Polavaram issues with Gandhi, besides having crucial discussions on the party’s strategy in the upcoming panchayat elections in the State. Congress being a national party, the meeting with the party boss is nothing uncommon ahead of an election, but the missing of the PCC chief in the group certainly fuelled speculation of fissures in the Odisha unit. This is not the first time that Harichandan and Mishra were not found together, but on several occasions earlier, they too were wide apart.
Harichandan was not present in the all-party meeting called by the loP on the Mahanadi issue. While the initiative of Mishra was in right earnest, since no one wants that the issue gets murkier by too much of politcisation and a mad race of credit taking, but be resolved amicably by some positive steps, the loP was not spared of criticism for lacking a consensus in his own party.
Similarly, on giving memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee on the Mahanadi issue recently, while Mishra was at the helm, Harichandan chose to stay incognito.
On the contrary, the PCC chief was found visiting Malkangiri for party’s campaign against the serial deaths of babies owing to Japanese encephalitis. Political observers, however, opine that Harichandan could take a plea for his absence in Mishra’s group by this visit, but the fact remains that the Odisha Congress has not yet got over its old problem, blocking its way of reviving its fortune in the last 16 years.
It seems Mishra, not Harichandan, has by far the bigger say in the State Congress’s standpoint on the Mahanadi issue. The issue has again brought to the fore the old rift in the party with the Srikant-Jayadev and co, supporting Harichandan at a time when Mishra is trying to steal the show with the backing of the Patnaiks.