Bhubaneswar: The All India Congress Committee (AICC) on Saturday formed a six-member committee for the selection of party candidate for the ensuing by-election to Bijepur Assembly constituency in Odisha’s Bargarh district scheduled on February 24.
The six-member committee would be led by former Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal with Jagannath Patnatik as the convener and Sarat Patnaik, Bhakta Charan Das, Naba Das and Ananta Padhi as the members.
Earlier in the day, senior Congress leaders Niranjan Patnaik, Chiranjibi Biswal, Naba Das and Jagannath Patnaik had met Congress president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi.
Though sources in the political circles said that the meeting discussed a change in state PCC leadership, the leaders refuted such claim.
“There was no discussion on the change in PCC leadership. In fact, we had come to discuss the Bijepur by-poll with the party supremo”, said Naba Das.
Prior to their meeting with Rahul Gandhi, the state leaders had a meeting with Kamalnath at his residence in the presence of Jitendra Prasad.
