Bhubaneswar: Congress legislator Mohammad Moquim lashed out at senior party leader Tara Prasad Bahinipati on Tuesday for criticising him for not voting during the AICC internal election for the president’s post.
Accusing Bahinipati of always causing embarrassment for Congress by making controversial remarks before media, the Barabati-Cuttack MLA said it is for the AICC to ask him about his inability to vote during the party president election held on Monday.
Taking strong exception to Bahinipati making adverse remarks about his absence during the election, Moquim sought to know as to who authorised the senior leader to raise questions. “I want to know as to who gave authorisation to Tara babu to make remarks about me,” he said.
Claiming that Bahinipati was keen to become the state Congress president, Moquim said the Jeypore MLA has been making controversial remarks after failing to get the post to put the party in an embarrassing position.
Moquim had told reporters that he could not vote during the Congress president election because he was out of station.
His move came two days after Congress did not include him in the list of star campaigners for November 3 Dhamnagar bypoll.
On July 18, Moquim indirectly expressed his displeasure with Congress by not toeing the party line during the Presidential elections and voted in support of NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu. His decision raised quite a few eyebrows as months ago he was in the race to become the OPCC president.
The party high command chose Sarat Pattanayak instead of Moquim, seemingly upsetting the latter. The OPCC bosses also served a show-cause notice on Moquim as to why he voted for Murmu. Moquim had earlier told the media that he has responded to the show cause notice and he had not committed any wrong.
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