Niranjan wins race for State Cong chief

At long last, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, obviously advised by recently-appointed Odisha in-charge Jitendra Singh, made a major revamping of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) nominating Niranjan Patnaik as its president in place of incumbent Prasad Harichandan and forming various organisational bodies ahead of the general elections scheduled next year.

The changes were not only welcomed by a vast majority of the party’s rank and file in the State but were seen by political observers as a highly positive development for the hitherto virtual moribund State Congress.

The choice of Niranjan Patnaik, who was also PCC chief in the early 2010s, is the culmination of the demand of the party’s almost all MLAs for his comeback as the State party head before the 2019 elections.

Besides, the AICC president also appointed MLAs Chiranjib Biswal and Naba Kishore Das and former MP Pradeep Majhi as working presidents of the OPCC to work along with Niranjan Patnaik.

Former Union Minister Bhakta Charan Das was appointed as chairman of PCC campaign committee while former State Minister Jagannath Patnaik was made convener of a coordination committee.

Former PCC president Jayadev Jena was appointed as core committee chairman and former PCC president Sarat Pattanayak was posted as its convener. Former Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal was appointed disciplinary committee chairman. Former Union Minister Srikant Jena was appointed as manifesto committee chairman while former State Minister Sarat Rout was appointed as its convener.