Leader of Oppn Narasingha Mishra addresses the convention
Bhubaneswar: Senior Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das and Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Prasad Harichandan Tuesday were once again involved in a public spat.
Trouble erupted after the OPCC chief allowed former Narla block president Ashok Chand to address the gathering at Congress Bhawan during the MGNREGS convention organised by the party to celebrate the completion of 10 years of the scheme. Das, a former Kalahandi MP, rushed to Harichandan and reportedly said Chand should not be allowed to speak as he is no longer a Congress member.
As the war of words continued, state Congress co-incharge Subhankar Sarkar and party spokesperson Ganeswar Behera had to intervene to sort out the issue.
The war of words between the two leaders took place shortly after Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra had urged leaders of the party not to indulge in infighting.
However, both Harichandan and Das denied having argued with each other. “I did not argue with him. I had to go somewhere so I had asked him to allow me to speak a little early,” said Das. However, Chand, who clarified that he has joined the Congress after the recent change in the party president in Kalahandi, said he had to cut short his speech following the verbal dual between the two leaders. “I do not know anything about the argument but during my speech I had said nothing about Das,” Chand said.
The infighting between Harichandan and Das had come to fore when Das had raised objection to the appointment of Govardhan Das as Kalahandi district Congress president in December. PNN
