Congress resorts to group discussions for Tirtol bypoll

JAGATSINGHPUR: Deviating from the normal practice of conducting public meetings, the Congress on Thursday held group discussions with block and panchayat level party workers in Biridi in strict adherence to the Covid-19 guidelines as per the instruction of Election Commission.

Attending the discussions, AICC in-charge of Odisha A Chellakumar advised leaders and workers to strengthen the party at the grassroots level ahead of the Tirtol bypoll. “It is true that Congress has witnessed an erosion of its traditional vote bank. But the leaders and workers should not let it bother them. All of us should try to gain the confidence of voters to ensure victory of our candidate in the by-election,” he said.

Congress workers should work unitedly to make voters aware of the failures of BJD and BJP. Both the opposition parties have failed to keep their promises made in their respective election manifesto. “If party workers are able to effectively highlight these issues, people of Tirtol Assembly constituency will definitely accept Congress,” Chellakumar said.

He further claimed that all the development works carried out in Tirtol were during the time of late Congress leader Basant Biswal. The BJD Government has done nothing significant in the area during its 20 years of rule. The Congress leader also criticised the BJP-led Government at the Centre for its agriculture policies.

President of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Pattnaik, party MP Saptagiri Ulaka, MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati, leaders Chiranjib Biswal, Pradip Majhi and Ganeswer Behera also participated in the discussions.

Tirtol block Congress president Akhaya Das said all the party workers unanimously proposed the name of Himansu Mallick as the party candidate in the upcoming bypoll. His name will be sent to the Congress headquarters at New Delhi for approval.  

Earlier, Congress had planned to organise a public meeting at Biridi but the local administration and restricted the party leaders from holding the event. The party then decided to go for group discussions.