Post News Network
New Delhi/Bhubaneswar, June 8: In a setback to Congress leadership in the state, former chief minister Hemananda Biswal met party vice-president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday and said all is not well in state Congress.
The veteran Congressman is apparently unhappy over the manner the party affairs are handled in the state. Biswal’s allegations surprised the Congress leaders at a time when the party is gearing up to take on the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as part of ‘Dhikkar Divas’ against the misrule of the two parties in the past two years.
Biswal said several leaders and workers are ‘dissatisfied’ with the style of functioning of Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Prasad Harichandan.
“Though the issue has not come to the fore, several party workers have expressed dissatisfaction over the OPCC president’s working methodology,” said Biswal to media shortly after meeting the AICC vice-president at New Delhi.
Biswal is reported to have apprised Rahul of party affairs and had suggested that “senior leaders should be assigned responsibilities befitting their experience to ensure smooth functioning within the party.”
Biswal also suggested that secretaries should be appointed in assembly constituencies to oversee party affairs.
Biswal’s outbursts have confounded many at a time when the party fared well in the civic by-elections in the state. It has exposed the growing infighting within the state Congress.
When contacted, party spokesperson Sarat Rout admitted that Biswal’s comments will have a ‘negative impact’ on the party workers who were preparing to organise ‘‘Dhikkar Divas’’ June 10 focusing against the BJD government in the state and Modi’s at the Centre. OPCC president who declined to react on the issue, however, said “there is no infighting in the state Congress and they will continue to fight unitedly in the best interests of the state.”
