Ten Congress corporators of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) have resigned from the party's primary membership, party leaders said.
The move by the corporators, who resigned yesterday, came two days after resignation of several senior leaders from Ganjam including former Union Minister Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Odisha PCC secretary Bikram Kumar Panda and district Congress committee president Bhagaban Gantayat from the party.
The Congress now has one corporator in the 40-ward BeMC.
They have sent their resignation letters to the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Prasad Harichandan.
"Our leaders have quit Congress. They were instrumental in us winning the civic body election in 2013. Moreover, we don't see any future of Congress in Odisha," said one of the corporators, Anil Kumar.
All ten are expected to join BJD shortly, sources said.
Earlier, two Congress corporators - Duryodhan Sahu and Jagannath Achary - had declared support to BJD, while Prasant Patnaik had resigned from the party.
Fifteen Congress corporators had won in the BeMC election in 2013. The corporator of ward 26, Chinmayee Padhy, died and his seat was won by BJP's Namita Rani Panda in the bypoll.
Currently, there are 25 BJD corporators, one Congress corporator, two from BJP and two Independents, besides the 10 who have resigned.
On Thurdsday night, around 50 party leaders, including former Union minister and AICC member Chandra Sekhar Sahu, had resigned from the party.
The Congress, however, downplayed Sahu's departure saying the party organization would remain strong. "No one is going to miss them. The Congress is more than one person," said Sandhya Mohapatra, chairperson of the disciplinary committee of PCC.
After resigning, Sahu had said, "For the last some years there is no discipline in Congress. The party high command is also in no mood to rectify the party organization in the state. Since 2009, the party has not utilised us and neglected us a lot. So I decided to quit the party."
Sahu without naming any party had said the Congress dissidents would join a party which maintains secularism and fights for Odisha's interest. "The decision to join a new party will be announced soon," he had said.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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