Congress falling fast in Odisha

The Congress party’s never-ending downward spiral in Odisha continues. Led by former Union Minister Chandrasekhar Sahu, 50 of its leaders resigned last week virtually emptying the party’s Ganjam district unit. This has signalled the Grand Old Party’s meltdown in a state where it was once was a dominant force before being thrown out of power by the BJD 18 years ago.

Beset with infighting, the party is in a constant state of turmoil. This has been compounded by the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) myopic vision of the affairs in Odisha. That the Congress has gradually yielded ground to the BJD was never in question but the first serious signs of the party losing its core support base surfaced in the Bijepur bypoll where it was pushed to a distant third despite winning the seat in the last three polls.

The clamour for the removal of incumbent PCC chief Prasad Harichandan, who has been facing a spate of rebellion, grows but he continues to be favoured by party President Rahul Gandhi while his dissidents found themselves out of the recent AICC list. Rahul has reportedly given Harichandan a green signal to lead the 2019 polls with a small unit since he enjoys no support from within the ranks. The party, it appears, is ready to risk a rout in the coming days but will not go back to older influential leaders. This has opened up the possibility of a two-party contest in the 2019 polls.

As the BJD ramps up its efforts to retain power for a record fifth time, the BJP has made more ground. In the Bijepur bypoll, the saffron party lost by over 40,000 votes to the ruling BJD but doubled its vote share while the Congress candidate forfeited his deposit.

This could be an ideal situation for the BJP which has been eyeing a direct contest with the regional outfit to achieve its Mission 120 in the next Assembly polls. To seriously challenge the BJD, the BJP would require the Congress vote base while the regional party would like to replicate its Bijepur performance. Much would depend on how the Congress gets its act together in the coming months.