Change Of Guard In Odisha Congress By Month-End; Not In The Race, Says Jayadev Jena

Bhubaneswar: Amid speculation of a change in guard in Odisha Congress following the recent drubbing in the rural and urban elections, former OPCC president Jayadev Jena on Monday said that he was not in the race.

Jena, however, said that he will accept the responsibility if asked to. “I am not mentally prepared for it. But If the high command gives me the responsibility, I will accept it. Whatever the task, I have always completed it with sincerity. Whenever I have been asked to work as an observer in any state, I have done that with utter humility,” he said.

Commenting on Niranjan Patnaik’s tenure as OPCC chief, the senior Congress leader said that he (Niranjan) should himself introspect if his stint was successful.

According to sources, the state leadership is likely to be changed in the third week of this month. Barabati-Cuttack MLA Mohammed Moquim and former union minister Bhakta Charan Das are the frontrunners for the post.

Notably, Moquim along with three other Congress MLAs — Taraprasad Bahinipati, S S Saluja, Adhiraj Panigrahi — had earlier expressed concern over the party’s situation, which has been relegated to the third position in the state since the 2019 Assembly elections due to constant infighting, lack of resources, and a weakening organisation.

Though Niranjan had tendered his resignation as the party’s state unit chief after the 2019 debacle, it was not accepted. He has also failed to stop the downward slide of the party since then.

Bahinipati, who was known for his loyalty to the OPCC chief, was also critical of Niranjan’s leadership. “Niranjan Babu falls ill whenever there is an election. Therefore a new and strong leadership should be installed in Odisha,” he said.

While Bahinitipati batted for an elected Member of the State Assembly to lead Congress, Moquim said the national leadership should hand over the post to a younger leader.

In the urban polls, the Congress secured only 12 per cent of the votes and won seven chairperson seats as against 13 seats in 2013-14 polls. It failed to open account in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, with its mayoral candidate losing the deposit. Only one party candidate won in the 42-member Berhampur Municipal Corporation.

In three-tier panchayat elections held in February, Congress candidates secured only 37 of the total 852 Zilla Parishad seats against 60 in 2017.