Suspended Leader Jogesh Singh Resigns As Congress MLA

Bhubaneswar: Congress leader Jogesh Singh, who had resigned from the primary membership of the party on January 18, a day after his suspension, submitted his resignation as Congress MLA to the Speaker on Tuesday.

The Sundargarh MLA met the Speaker, Pradip Kumar Amat at his State Assembly chamber and handed him the letter of resignation.

The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) had suspended Singh, who had praised BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik during a party programme at Kinjijrikela in Sundargarh district on January 15.

“If a party is able to continuously remain in power, it speaks volumes of the deft leadership of the party supremo. I have no hesitation in saying that the people have chosen Naveen Patnaik as their most popular leader and his party has been winning the elections without any hassles,” Singh had told the meeting.

He also told the media that he would skip the meeting of Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Bhubaneswar on January 25 as he has scheduled his programme in the rural areas of his constituency. “Since the Assembly election is round the corner, I cannot attend the meeting of the party supremo by cancelling my programmes,” he had pointed out.

Asked whether he had any plan to join the BJD, the Sundargarh MLA had said since the people have elected him as their representative, they will take a decision in this regard.

The OPCC Disciplinary Committee had issued a show-cause notice to Singh on January 16 asking him to reply within 24 hours. Since he failed to do so, he was suspended from the party on the recommendation of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).

In his reaction, Singh had said there was no plausible reason to suspend him. He questioned how praising Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for his deft leadership can be termed as an anti-party activity when leaders of other political parties are also doing so.

Maintaining he has been suspended without any valid reason, Singh had said he would resign from primary membership of the party as the Congress MLA.