3 yrs after its Odisha chief quit, Cong may finally take a call on him, state unit

Embattled state chief Niranjan Patnaik on Thursday said he was all for change. At the same time, he qualified that this should not be taken as a personal comment on him, saying the PCC president’s post is not permanent, and is changed every two-three years. Patnaik has been state chief since 2018.

Incidentally, Patnaik had resigned as PCC chief after the Congress’s dismal performance in the 2019 general and state elections. However, the high command never accepted it, leaving Patnaik’s fate in a limbo.

In the recent elections, the Congress managed to win just seven of the 108 urban local bodies – a decline even from the paltry 13 it had won in the 2013-14 polls. It failed to open its account in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, won just one of the 42 corporator posts in the Berhampur Municipal Corporation, and eight of the 59 posts in the Cuttack body. Of the total 1,716 councillor posts across the state, the party got 134.

A month earlier, the party had put up a similarly dismal performance in the three-tier panchayat elections, ending third as it won 37 of the 853 zilla parishad seats. In the 2017 elections, the party had won 60.

This had marked a continuation of the party’s decline in the state since it relinquished its position as the principal opposition, to the BJP, in the 2019 elections. In the bypolls held since – for Balasore, Jagatsinghpur and Pipili Assembly seats – Congress candidates have trailed far behind, getting 4.39% votes in Pipili and just 4,983 votes in all in Balasore.

A senior AICC leader said the change in leadership is most likely within this month, adding that the party was looking for a “result-oriented alternative”. The new PCC chief will be chosen based on performance within the party, stature, accessibility to the common man, and approach against the local establishment, the senior leader said.

Patnaik told The Indian Express: “I have already submitted my resignation and I am ready to accept whatever the Congress decides. I do not know of individual opinions, but change in the PCC leadership is a routine affair and happens every two-three years. Change is needed and the sooner it happens, the better… There are many eligible leaders to replace me.” He added that he had no idea when the high command would take a final call on his resignation.

A Chellakumar, the central Congress leader in-charge of Odisha, said the party had taken a conscious call to continue with Patnaik after his 2019 resignation and to fight the local elections under his leadership. “But now, with even age a factor, we will consider a complete reorganization of the state unit,” Chellakumar said. Patnaik is 79.

Some Congress leaders have raised the demand that the new state chief be a sitting MLA. Said the Congress whip in the Assembly, Tara Prasad Bahinipati: “A legislator should be made the president to strengthen the organisation… All leaders and party workers would abide by his decisions.”

A former PCC chief in 2012-14, Patnaik had been picked based on his seniority and experience, soon after the BJP had emerged on the political scene in Odisha with the 2017 rural polls.

The senior AICC leader quoted above incidentally said no such criteria is under consideration. Among the front-runner contenders to replace Patnaik are said to be former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das and Barabati-Cuttack MLA Mohammed Moquim.

Several party leaders are also calling for four working presidents for the four corners of the state for more effective functioning. Senior MLA Suresh Kumar Routray said that apart from four working presidents, the party should have at least eight vice-presidents and 20 general secretaries.

In September last year, the Odisha Congress’s sole working president, Pradeep Majhi, a prominent tribal leader, had quit the party for the ruling Biju Janata Dal.

Another senior Congress leader said: “New leaders must be tasked with looking at smaller zones and strengthening the party’s prospects. So it is imperative that we have more than one working president.”
MLA Santosh Singh Saluja said they would have no problems with whatever decision the central leadership takes. “But yes, with the 2024 elections in view, a reorganisation is important.”