Fourth blow to Cong: Another MLA quits

BHUBANESWAR: In yet another blow to the Congress ahead of the General Elections, Salepur MLA Prakash Behera on Saturday resigned from the primary membership of the party. Behera is expected to join the BJP soon.

Behera sent his resignation to president of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Rahul Gandhi alleging that the party had neglected him. He is the fourth sitting MLA of Congress who quit the party raising serious questions on the party’s bid to return to power in Odisha in 2019 elections. Congress is out of power in Odisha for the last 20 years.

Earlier, three sitting MLAs, Naba Kishore Das (Jharsuguda), Jogesh Kumar Singh (Sundargarh) and Krushna Chandra Sagaria (Koraput), had quit the Congress in search of greener pastures. While Das and Singh have joined the ruling BJD, Sagaria preferred the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

In his resignation letter to the AICC chief, Behera alleged that he worked for the Congress for the last 20 years but he was neglected and humiliated by the party. “After being removed as district Congress committee president of Cuttack, I was humiliated by the leadership time and again. In spite of my appeal to OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik, my grievance was not considered,” he said.

Stating that he has always worked for the people of Salepur and they are with him, Behera said he decided to quit Congress after several rounds of discussion with his supporters. On reports of his joining BJP, Behera said he is yet to take a decision in this regard.

The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC), however, maintained that Behera’s decision will have no impact on the party. “Behera quitting Congress will have no impact, the leaders who are leaving Congress will have a fate like former MLA Anup Kumar Sai,” he said.

Describing the development as unfortunate, senior Congress leader Ganeswar Behera admitted that he (Salepur MLA) was a good organiser. “However, it will be a loss for him,” he said.