Bhubaneswar: As the blame-game over the poor performance of the Congress party in the state is only escalating, the party is now all set to dissect the reasons as to why the national party tasted defeat and allowed other parties to grab their existing Assembly seat.
A meeting in this regard has now been fixed in the state capital May 30 when the Odisha-in-charge of the party and All India Congress Party (AICC) General Secretary Jitendra Singh and senior Congress party leader from Chattisgarh TS Singh Deo will participate in a discussion session.
As per the plan of the Congress party, the leaders will meet the local leaders and will try to understand the reasons for the election debacle that the national party suffered in the state. During 2019 election, the party lost many Assembly seats and under-performed in the state elections compared to their performance in 2014 elections.
According to sources in the party, the national leaders would try to meet the winners and losing candidates of the party to understand what went wrong in the party which led to its defeat in 2019. It also failed to control the surge of seats of the BJP and BJD.
On the other hand, the party is now going through a rough time as questions have now been openly asked about the potential of the party leadership in the state and the role it played in the elections before the state went for elections.
While some veterans have openly targeted Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) President Niranjan Patnaik, many party leaders are internally blaming the party leadership in the state for the election debacle. A day after senior party leader Kanhu Lenka blamed Niranjan and his son for the poll debacle, Niranjan Monday safeguarded his son’s candidature.
“The nomination of my son from Balasore was based on the recommendation of the local unit and was approved by the All India Congress Party (AICC). I never visited Balasore or campaigned for my son. The district unit of the area made recommendations in his favour,” Patnaik said.
