After quite a long gap, the dissidents in the State Congress, particularly MlAs, have again launched a campaign for change of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) leadership with two MlAs meeting All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Saturday.
MlAs Congress Deputy Chief Whip in the State Assembly Chiranjib Biswal and Naba Kishore Das and former MP Pradeep Majhi called on Gandhi at his residence being accompanied by AICC leaders Kamal Nath and Jitendra Singh, who is the AICC observer for Odisha.
Though nothing official about the details of what transpired at the meeting was known, the dissidents reportedly pleaded for replacing incumbent PCC president Prasad Haichandan by former PCC chief Niranjan Patnaik.
The urgency for a change of guard in the State Congress was understood to have been pleaded with Gandhi in view of the upcoming by-election in the Bijepur Assembly constituency. It was pointed out that the by-poll has been necessitated by the death of Congress MlA Subal Sahu and the party can retain the seat through an effective campaigning if the present State leadership is changed.
Talking to media, Naba Das did not say anything about the issue of change of leadership and only maintained that the Bijepur by-poll was discussed with Gandhi.
Significantly, these leaders had earlier in the morning had a parley at Kamal Nath’s house along with Niranjan Patnaik in which Jitendra Singh also participated. Patnaik did not join them while they proceeded to meet Gandhi later when Gandhi’s office called them.
Reportedly, Patnaik did not go to Gandhi obviously for the reason that the team wanted to argue with the AICC president about Patnaik as replacement as PCC chief in his absence. However, sources said Patnaik would meet Gandhi within a couple of days.
After meeting Gandhi, the leaders came back to the house of Kamal Nath, who is known to be strongly backing the move for a change of the PCC stewardship.
Meanwhile, the AICC on Saturday formed a six-member committee headed by former Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal to search for a fit candidate for the Bijepur by-poll.
The other members include former Minister Jagannath Patnaik, former Union Minister Bhakta Das, MlA Naba Das and Bargarh district Congress president Anant Padhi. The committed would recommend a name to Rahul Gandhi for his final consent in two to three days.