Salluja Is Odisha Cong Disciplinary Panel Chairman; Meenakshi Bahinipati Removed As Koraput Dist Chief

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the twins poll, the Congress on Friday removed Meenakshi Bahinipati, wife of Jeypore MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati, as president of Koraput district Congress committee.

Durga Sankar Sahu, who would replace her, is among the 10 new districts presidents appointed by the grand old party.

DCC PRESIDENTS

1. Nuapada – Suresh Kumar Ajad
2. Keonjhar – Mohan Parida
3. Puri – Jairam Pattanaik
4. Bhadrak – Ashok Das
5. Angul – Sangram Mishra
6. Sambalpur – Asif Ali Khan
7. Sundargarh – Danardan Dehury
8. Koraput – Durga Sankar Sahu
9. Rayagada – Bijoy Kumar Gomango
10. Deogarh – Sem Hembram

Last month, 12 zilla parishad members, block Congress presidents and the chairman of Jeypore municipality met state Congress president Sarat Pattanayak in Bhubaneswar, opposing any move to replace Meenakshi Bahinipati, stating that it could harm the party’s prospects in the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections, which are less than a year away.

Notably, reports of cracks in the Koraput unit of the Congress have been doing the rounds for quite some time. The alleged rift between the 4-time Jeypore MLA and debutant Koraput MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka came to the fore again when the former recently expressed his displeasure over his wife being inducted as a PCC secretary, as it suggested her removal from the post of district Congress president, and hinted at Ulaka’s role in it.

The Congress president also approved the proposal for appointment of Chairpersons of various committees, and constitution of the Disciplinary Action Committee of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee, said a release issued by All India Congress Committee.

AICC Programme Implementation Committee
Jagneswar Babu – Chairman

Publicity and Publication Committee
Sanjay Tripathy – Chairman

Manifesto Committee
Panchanan Kanungo – Chairman

Disciplinary Action Committee
Santosh Singh Salluja – Chairman
Janaki Ballav Pattanaik – Convenor
Bhujabala Majhi – Member
Rajendra Chhatria – Member
Debendra Sahoo – Member
Pratima Mallik – Member