Bhubaneswar: To boost the morale of senior leaders and party workers ahead of 2019 elections, Congress National President Rahul Gandhi is expected to visit Odisha in August.
Announcing this after the first coordination committee meeting here on Monday, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik said the state unit is planning the visit, most probably after August 20.
This will be Rahul’s first visit to the state after Niranjan took over the reins of the state Congress from Prasad Harichandan on April 19, 2018.
The OPCC president said that the coordination committee decided to strengthen the party from the block level to the state level to be able to contest the upcoming general election successfully. “We have decided to appoint a leader in each revenue district or else they will be given the charge of each parliamentary constituency,” he added.
AICC Odisha in-charge Jitendra Singh, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Narasingha Mishra and other OPCC coordination committee members attended the meeting.
The state Congress has been battling internal wrangling since long. The delay in announcement of state office-bearers is also being attributed to intense factionalism. Difference between party leaders keeps cropping up time and again, the recent being that between Opposition whip and senior Congress leader Tara Prasad Bahinipati and party legislator Krushna Chandra Sagaria.
