During the visit of AICC general secretary and Odisha-in-charge Jitendra Singh to Sambalpur on Wednesday, Congress youth cadres were seen holding banners welcoming Singh but demanding the change of the OPCC president.
Singh had visited the district along with AICC secretary Mastan Ali, OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik, Balangir MLA Narasingha Mishra and Kantabanji MLA Santosh Singh Saluja and others to tell party workers about the anti-people policies of the Union Government and to seek their opinion on the revival of the party in west Odisha.
A meeting was conducted under the chairmanship of Sambalpur district president Aswini Guru where district presidents, secretaries, former MLAs and MPs, MLA and MP candidates of the last election and district level leaders of Sambalpur, Balangir, Subarnapur, Deogarh and Bargarh participated.
After the fall of BJD-BJP alliance in 2009 election, the Congress regained Bargarh, Kalahandi and Sundergarh Lok Sabha seats. However, it could not retain these seats in 2014 and 2019 elections. Defection of the then Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Bhupinder Singh before 2014 polls, the Congress weakened in the western Odisha. Later, untimely death of Bijepur Congress MLA Subal Sahoo and subsequent joining of his wife in the BJD further weakened the party further. Further, quitting of MLA Naba Das, former Chief Minister Hemanda Biswal’s daughter Sunita and former MLA Sadhu Nepak caused disaster to the party in western Odisha.
The party lost all Lok Sabha seats to the BJP and most of the Assembly seats to the BJD, excepting Kantabanji, Khariar, Balangir and Rajgangpur seats.
In this backdrop, visit of the high power central team to the district was significant. It is not easy to recover but asking for feedback from caders was a right step for recovery. Singh, Patnaik and others met the district teams separately and sought their opinions.
Many workers reportedly demanded the resignation of the leaders who were in charge of the last general elections. They demanded that the youth should be allowed to lead party organisations at all levels.
The demand for the change of the PCC leadership was obvious as the region suffered terrible electoral loss. At the State-level, a section is also demanding the change of PCC guard. Few days ago, the national youth wing president had also snubbed the PCC president for interfering in the State structure. The OPCC president had rightly submitted his resignation after the 2019 poll disaster but it has not been accepted by the AICC. While analysts opine that a change of guard in the Odisha Congress is required as the BJP did so recently, it depends on the AICC to take a decision in this regard.