Congress in chaos as poll date approaches

Bhubaneswar: Exodus, revolt over distribution of tickets, sudden refusal of candidates to contest polls and last-minute changes in nominees marred Odisha Congress’s poll preparations with filing of nominations for the fourth and final phase of elections coming to an end on Tuesday.
It was evident as the party’s Dharmasala assembly candidate Kisan Panda failed to collect his ticket on the last day of nomination. Though he filed his papers on Tuesday claiming to be a Congress candidate, he has to produce the ticket before scrutiny, failing which his nomination will be rejected. “I waited for hours at the residence of Congress state president Niranjan Patnaik. Since he was absent, I could not collect my ticket. I am hopeful of producing the ticket during scrutiny,” Panda said.

The party announced Panda’s candidature on April 7 replacing Smrutirekha Pahi, whose name was announced as a nominee from the same seat on April 2. Pahi has already filed her nomination on April 6, claiming to be a Congress candidate. Sources said the party is still undecided whether it would save the candidature of Pahi or Panda.

The Congress has been in trouble in the run-up to the elections since January. Contrary to speculation that Niranjan’s leadership will revive the state Congress that was in tatters during his predecessor Prasad Harichandan’s tenure, the party has suffered the worst damage.

Exodus of several leaders, including four MLAs Naba Kishore Das, Jogesh Singh, Krishna Sagaria and Prakash Behera dealt a body blow to Niranjan’s poll preparedness. The Congress hope of returning to power after 19 years seemingly came crashing down following massive revolt against Niranjan’s leadership and dissent over selection of candidates. Sudden reluctance of several candidates to contest the polls and changes in nominees in some seats aggravated the woes of the Congress. Rebellion from frontal organisations like Mahila Congress and Youth Congress in the state has left the party in a spot.

Experts attributed the cause of Congress crisis to short-sightedness of the All India Congress Committee and poor strategy of Niranjan. “We expected that the party would revive when the high command appointed Jitendra Singh as Odisha in-charge. Besides, three AICC secretaries were appointed. While Niranjan was made state president, three others were appointed as working presidents. Unfortunately, they all failed to put in place a solid strategy to unite the party leaders,” said Prasanta Mishra, an analyst.

“We saw Singh for a short period in Odisha as the party made him a candidate from Alwar Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan. After the electoral success in Chhattisgarh, the AICC made Chhattisgarh minister T S Singhdeo the temporary AICC in-charge of Odisha a few weeks ago. It seems the high command has no strong vision to revive the party in Odisha,” Mishra said.

Surrounded by a series of problems, Niranjan still exudes confidence. “We are not worried over dissidence over ticket distributions. We will perform well,” Niranjan said.