Congress Suspends Senior Odisha Leaders Chiranjib Biswal, Md Moquim For ‘Anti-Party’ Activities

Bhubaneswar: In a tough action, Congress on Saturday suspended senior leaders of Odisha Mohd Moquim and Chiranjib Biswal from the party on charges of indulging in anti-party activities.

Sources said Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) President, Sarat Pattanayak had complained that both the leaders are indulging in anti-party activities which are against the interest of the organisation.

The matter was referred to the Disciplinary Action Committee (DAC) of the party.

Based on the complaint, replies were sought from the two leaders. However, the DAC found the replies received from them to be unsatisfactory following which, the committee decided to place both of them under suspension.

“The replies received from the two leaders were carefully considered and found to be unsatisfactory. Accordingly, the DAC hs decided to place both of them under suspension from the party with immediate effect,” said Tariq Anwar, Member Secretary-DAC, AICC in a statement.

It may be recalled that Congress had in May, this year issued show cause notices to former legislator Chiranjib Biswal and Barabati-Cuttack MLA Mohammad Moquim for their remarks about leadership issue in the state.

Biswal and Moquim were not immediately available for comment.

The two were issued notices for violating the party discipline and asked to explain as to why disciplinary action should not be taken against them.

They were issued showcase notices for their statements against the party affairs and organisation at an event held in Bhubaneswar ahead of the Jharsuguda Assembly by-election.

Biswal had reportedly raised questions about the selection of the candidate and composition of the campaign committee headed by OPCC president Sarat Pattanayak for the by-election.

He further stated that though there were only nine Congress MLAs in the state, 20 leaders were aspiring to become chief minister, which affected unity in the party.

Notably, the two senior leaders were not included in the list of star campaigners of Congress for Jharsuguda Assembly bypoll.