Exodus from Cong. begins in Ganjam

Adding to the continuing exodus from the party in Ganjam district of Odisha, 10 Congress corporators of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) resigned from the party on Saturday.

In the 40-member BJD-dominated BeMC, the Congress had 11 corporators.

On March 29 night, several key Congress leaders from Ganjam, including former Union Minister Chandrasekhar Sahu, All India Congress Committee (AICC) member Bikram Panda and Ganjam District Congress Committee (DCC) president Bhagban Gantayat, had sent their resignation letters to the AICC and the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC).

Leaders’ supporters

These ten corporators were supporters of Mr. Sahu, Mr. Panda and Mr. Gantayat. They represented wards numbering 6, 7, 8, 20, 21, 29, 30, 33, 34 and 39.

These corporators sent their resignation letters to the PCC expressing their displeasure over the working of the party in Odisha.

Mr. Sahu, Mr. Panda and Mr. Gantayat are expected to join the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on April 4 during visit of party chief and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to Berhampur.

These BeMC corporators are also expected to join the BJD on that day along with several other leaders and party workers of the Congress from different parts of Ganjam district.

Ganjam is the home district of the Odisha Chief Minister. Earlier it was a major bastion of the Congress due to which former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao had decided to contest the Lok Sabha polls from the Berhampur parliamentary constituency. But with time, the Congress has lost out to the BJD in the district.At present all MPs and MLAs of the district are from the BJD.