AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi has called all
Congress MLAs of the State for a discussion on who would be the next
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president. This was
informed on Tuesday by senior party legislator Suresh Routray, who
said that the MLAs have been asked to be present in New Delhi on May
5.
The MLAs want that one from among them should be appointed as the
new PCC president. While it is the ultimate decision of the party high
command as to who would be the next OPCC chief, mainly three names
are in circulation for the post, from which present incumbent Niranjan
Patnaik will be relieved soon.
Sarat Pattnaik, a former PCC chief and a former MP from Balangir,
Rama Chandra Khuntia, former Rajya Sabha member and INTUC State
head, and former Union Minister Bhakta Charan Das are in the race for
the post.
In most of the instances in the past, the AICC’s strategies of playing the
cards of tribals, dalits and western Odisha in appointing PCC presidents
have not yielded any positive result in terms of revamping the party and
winning elections.
As State party chiefs, tribal leaders Giridhar Gamang and Hemanand
Biswal miserably failed in playing an effective role. SC leader Bhakta
Das, though made a PCC working president, has not been able to
improve the party’s fortunes in his native Kalahandi district in particular
and western Odisha in general. Sarat Pattnaik from western Odisha also
had little to his credit for boosting the organisational strength.
As for Khuntia, so far, he has never been given a chance to lead the State
organisation though he has been absolutely loyal to the party throughout
his long political career. While the party has long been failing to win
Parliament, Assembly, municipality and panchayat elections, it is under
Khuntia’s leadership that the INTUC, the party’s labour front, has been
emerging victorious in most of the union polls across the State.
Observers feel that it is high time the high command chose a strong
leader from coastal Odisha like Khuntia as the PCC chief as this region
has the maximum numbers of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats. Besides,
Khuntia is known all over the State for his INTUC network.
Another favourable factor for Khuntia is that he has never entangled him
in intra-party squabbles. He has supported all PCC presidents selected
by the AICC. He is also free of any corruption charge.