Congress Student Activists Seek Action Against Odisha Party Chief

Bhubaneswar: The bitter feud in Odisha Congress came to the fore on Friday as several Student Congress activists staged a dharna in front of the party headquarters here against alleged high-handedness of senior party leaders.

The agitation at Congress Bhawan came while AICC leader and Odisha Congress in-charge Jitender Singh was having the meeting with senior party leaders inside. Student Congress leaders were not allowed in for the meeting to discuss the modality of the party leadership in the state.

Protesting against the exclusion, former convener of Odisha Student Congress Itish Pradhan said, “I have worked as a Student Congress worker for 15 years and as its convener for nearly five years. I have voiced protest against the BJD government that led me in being put behind bars three times. Despite this, some senior leaders of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) suspended me in a well-orchestrated conspiracy because I told the truth.”

Pradhan added, “As a party member, if it is wrong to tell the truth on the indiscipline in the party and against some senior party leaders who have sold themselves to the BJD, how come I have been suspended from the Student Congress without any prior notice? Was it right?”

Without taking the name of the OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik, he said he will take up the matter with the Odisha in-charge and the AICC supremo and demand action against these leaders who were trying to disintegrate the Congress in Odisha.