Bhubaneswar: In a significant development, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) has expelled former MLA and senior leader Mohammed Moquim from the primary membership of the party over involvement in “anti-party activities”.
“This is for the information of all concerned that AICC has approved the proposal for the expulsion of Sri Md. Moquim from the primary membership of the party, due to anti-party activities,” reads a notice issued on December 13 with the signature of OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das.
Moquim said, “I have no regret about writing a letter to Sonia Gandhi and raising pertinent issues. They have expelled me from the party, but cannot distance me from the Congress ideology which I follow in letter and spirit.”
It is pertinent here to mention that Moquim, father of sitting Cuttack-Barabati MLA Sofia Firdous, has recently stirred a debate in the party when he targeted the All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and the OPCC president Das in a letter written to Sonia Gandhi.
The former MLA, in his letter written December 8, stated that the party faced six consecutive losses in Odisha and three major defeats at the national level, which is alarming, heartbreaking, and unbearable for loyal workers like him. He targeted the present OPCC President Bhakta Charan Das, pointing out his dismal electoral performance and ideological differences with the Congress party.
Moquim noted that Das, who became OPCC president in 2025, has suffered three consecutive electoral defeats and has been aligned with a political ideology traditionally at odds with the Congress.
He further highlighted Das’s past criticisms of the Gandhi family during the JP movement era. Moquim also alleged that the OPCC president and his son’s open support for a separate “Kosal State” has further created deep unrest among party workers in the state.
Targeting the central leadership’s choice of leadership in the states, he alleged that a series of wrong decisions, misguided leadership choices, and the continued concentration of responsibility in the wrong hands have weakened the party from within.
Alleging a growing distance between grassroots-level workers and the party leadership, Moquim stated that he failed to meet Rahul Gandhi even after waiting for almost three years.
Moquim’s letter has created a stir in the party with senior leaders criticising him for raising questions on party leadership in open. The OPCC president, Das, without taking the name of Moquim, had earlier stated that those who are in contact with the BJP should leave Congress.
IANS
