Bhubaneswar: The call for the ouster of Niranjan Patnaik and elevation of Cuttack-Barabati MLA Mohammed Moquim as the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president got a push on Sunday with a group of senior leaders of the party deciding to present the idea to AICC president Sonia Gandhi.
Following a closed-door meeting, OPCC spokesperson Ashok Samal said that a party delegation will soon meet the AICC president Sonia Gandhi, most likely on November 10, in this regard.
Ahead of the restructuring of the faction-ridden OPCC, a fresh spell of dissensions started brewing with a host of leaders demanding a change of the guard in the state unit on Wednesday.
The issue was discussed at a meeting presided over by Congress leader Bapi Sarkhel at Pantha Nivas here. It was attended by many former MLAs and MPs from the party, district presidents as well as youth and student leaders.
Speaking to the media later, Sarkhel said that the Congress was gradually losing the trust of the people as was evident by its miserable show in the Assembly and general elections. “Under such circumstances, present OPCC president won’t be able to lead the party as the poll outcome clearly reflects his weak leadership,” he said.
To bail out Congress from this critical phase, the members present at the meeting, unanimously proposed the name of the senior party leader and Cuttack MLA Mohammad Moquim as the OPCC president, he added.
Sarkel had then hinted at meeting Sonia Gandhi in this regard in the first week of November.
