OPCC chief asks partymen to maintain discipline

BHUBANESWAR: Even as Tara Prasad Bahinipati continued with his attack on president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik, the latter dismissed the issue and said that it will have no impact on the party’s preparations for the panchayat elections. He, however, did not elaborate.

Both Bahinipati and his wife, Meenakshi Bahinipati who is the president of the Koraput District Congress Committee (DCC), skipped a meeting convened by Patnaik here on Monday to discuss party’s preparations for panchayat and urban local body (ULB) polls. Meenakshi said that she will not attend any meeting convened by the OPCC president till the issue raised by her is resolved.

Stating that the State leadership has by-passed her by not informing about the re-induction of Kailash Kulesika, former MLA from Laxmipur into the party, Meenakshi said she will meet party president Sonia Gandhi over the issue.

Patnaik reviewed the preparations at the district level for the panchayat and ULB polls. He asked the district presidents to submit the lists of block Congress committees and panchayat Congress committees within their jurisdiction to him by August 31. It was also decided that a State-level training camp will be held here on August 31 to prepare party workers for the polls. The camp will be attended by Odisha in-charge and AICC general secretary A Chellakumar and AICC secretary Rudra Raju.

The OPCC president asked all leaders to maintain party discipline and work to expose both the BJD government in Odisha and the BJP-led government at the Centre. It was decided that Patnaik will start district visits from September 15 to interact with party cadres for the polls. He will visit Nuapada and Kalahandi districts on September 15 and 16 respectively.