The bitter factional feud in the State Congress intensified further with party Assembly Chief Whip Tara Prasad Bahinpati slamming Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Prasad Harichandan and his father-in-law and senior leader Suresh Routray at a Press conference here on Friday.
Bahinpati, who has been spearheading a group demanding the PCC president’s removal, remarked that the PPC and the Congress Bhawan are not the paternal property of anyone. Despite being told by Prasad, his father-in-law is using very harsh words against the MlAs. The results would be explosive. The PCC president had got third position in the last Assembly elections. Defeated leaders cannot vote in the Presidential election; only elected MlAs can.
Suresh Routray also did not mince words and said the critics have newly come to the party. The Congress is people’s property, not these people’s grandfathers’. They should stop issuing such statements; otherwise they have to face dire consequences. They had made Prasad PCC president, but now they are asking him to resign.
Regarding some leaders leaving the party, he said they are migrants, who are moving from place to place for money. Without the Congress’ hand symbol, they cannot even win ward member elections.