Bhubaneswar: The supporters of two Congress leaders, who were denied tickets in the Odisha Assembly elections, created a ruckus in the party office in Bhubaneswar on Monday.
Congress leaders Jayant Bhoi and Nishikant Mishra, who were hopeful of party nomination for Jaydev and Pipili Assembly seats respectively, were dropped and other leaders nominated in their place in the list of candidates released by the party recently.
Enraged over the party’s decision, the supporters of Bhoi went to Congress Bhawan in Bhubaneswar and created a ruckus there. Opposing the decision of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Patnaik, they raised slogans against him and wanted rollback of the decision.
They claimed that Krushna Sagaria, who has been nominated by Congress for Jaydev Assembly segment, cannot garner support from the voters as he belongs to southern Odisha and has no experience at grassroot level in the constituency.
Stating that he had already prepared the ground for the election by carrying out activities at booth level, Jayant Bhoi said, “I along with my supporters have contacted 53,372 people of the constituency. The voters were prepared to vote for Congress. I am a victim of conspiracy and want to know the ground for depriving me of the party ticket.”
The supporters of Nishikant also created disturbances in the party office by raising slogans against OPCC president and the party’s Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar.
Alleging that Nishikant had been betrayed by party leadership, they claimed that the PCC chief had assured them of the ticket to their leader and told to work at the grassroots level.
“We have been working for Nishikant by mobilising support from the voters and making door-to-door contacts. We were also making preparation for campaigning. Now we have lost the face before them,” said Nishikant’s supporters.
Neither the Congress nor OPCC president has issued any statement on the incidents.
