Odisha Congress Expels 5 Office Bearers For Ink Attack On Sarat Pattanayak

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Congress has expelled five office bearers for 6 years in connection with the ink attack on OPCC president Sarat Pattanayak at the party’s state headquarters in Bhubaneswar.

Those expelled are OPCC general secretary Prakash Mishra, general secretary of the party’s women wing Shriyasmita Panda, NSUI secretary Sandip Routray, state Youth Congress secretary Amresh Parida and NSUI state secretary Aryan Sasmal.

The incident took place on June 21 in the chamber of the state president at Congress Bhawan here.

Terming it as an act of indiscipline, intended at damaging the party’s image, OPCC disciplinary action committee chairman Santosh Singh Saluja said that the action was taken against these office bearers on the basis of CCTV footage.

Notably, some workers of the youth wing of the party threw ink at the OPCC president in his chamber in the morning hours on June 21 when he was meeting some party leaders.

Sources claimed that the ink attack was the outcome of growing resentment against the state leadership over alleged massive irregularities in ticket distribution during Lok Sabha and Vidha Sabha elections in the state. However, Sarat, who suffered minor injury to his left eye, said that it was the handiwork of those who are jealous of the growth of Congress in the state.

The Congress improved in Assembly seats tally to 14 in the recent elections from nine in 2019.