Cadre says leadership surrendered without contesting Pipili bypoll
In the recently held Pipili by-election, Congress candidate Bishvokeshan Harichandan Mohapatra got 4,261 (2.36%) votes out of a total of 1,80,930 votes. For the second time in a row, the party’s security has been forfeited in an assembly seat.
Even before the counting of votes was over on Sunday, disgruntled party workers started a sit-in in front of the party office here. He was the President of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee Niranjan Patnaik and Odisha in-charge A. Chella was demanding Kumar’s resignation. “The leadership has surrendered without a fight,” he said.
As the two crucial panchayat and municipal elections are likely to be held early next year, activists are worried, saying the Congress may find it difficult to stay in the memory of Odisha voters if the party’s affairs are allowed to go on like this. Is.
For the first time in the 2019 assembly elections, the Congress had slipped to the third position. Its vote share was 16.12% compared to BJD’s 44.71% and BJP’s 32.49%. In terms of seats, the national party has a single-digit representation in the 147-member House with nine MLAs.
The party was expected to act again and make efforts to recover from the electoral setback. However, she lost three by-elections and slipped to third place in all three.
It is being told that OPCC President Patnaik had written a letter to the central leadership expressing his desire to step down after the results are out. However, he refused to reveal anything about it. Party rebels, however, termed the posture as an attempt to deceive others and said that there was a desperate attempt to stay on position.
Pradeep Manjhi, a prominent tribal leader and working president of the party, was quite candid about the affairs of the state.
“Voters have stopped accepting us as an alternative to Biju Janata Dal. During the last two decades, we had many opportunities in terms of the issues that surrounded the Naveen Patnaik government. However, we could not capitalize on those issues by taking them to their logical conclusion,” Mr Manjhi said.
“During the last one and a half decades, there has been no new blood transfusion. Students and youth have lost interest in the party. In fact we haven’t been able to motivate them.”
The tribal leader said, “Congress will have to think out of the box if it has to survive in the electoral landscape. The leadership and the cadre need to work together to bring back the lost glory.”
Congress MLA from Barabati-Cuttack constituency Mohammad Mokim said, “The cadre needs to be buoyed by electoral successes. We have to keep trying, even if all the odds are stacked against us. It is very important for the country that the Congress, which is the only secular alternative to the saffron BJP, remains in the race.
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