Peeved With Party Leadership, Three Top Leaders Quit Congress

Berhampur: The Congress in Odisha received a severe jolt after three top leaders of Ganjam district announced their resignation from the party here on Thursday night.

The three Congress leaders who tendered their resignation from the Congress are former Union minister Chandrasekhar Sahu, president of the Ganjam District Congress Committee Bhagaban Gantayat and AICC member Bikram Panda. Besides, Berhampur Nagar Congress president Sanjit Panigrahi also resigned from the party.

Sources said that other leaders who also resigned from the Ganjam District Congress Committee are most likely to join the BJD during the visit of chief minister Naveen Patnaik to Berhampur on April 4.

“The manner in which the Congress high command Rahul Gandhi was expected to resolve the indiscipline in the Odisha Congress, did not happen. “Taking advantage of the intra-party squabbles, the communal party which is presently ruling the country gradually grabbed a lion’s share of the Congress stronghold in the state. This was clearly evident in the recent byelection in Bijepur Assembly constituency where the Congress which had won the election three times in a row, lost its deposit. The miserable show of the Congress in the Bijepur bypoll deeply hurt my sentiment which forced me to quit the party,” Sahu told media persons.

He further said he has sent his resignation letter to the AICC president Rahul Gandhi and Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Prasad Harichandan.

When asked as to what are the other factors which forced him to resign from the party, the former Union minister said, the Congress leadership did not use his experience in the party organisational work.

To another question on whether he has decided to join the BJD, Sahu said he will inform the media after consulting with his party colleagues very soon.

Surprisingly, there is no reaction from either the OPCC president or the AICC supremo till date.