New Delhi: A delegation of 23 district Congress presidents Wednesday could not meet party’s national vice-president Rahul Gandhi here due to sudden change of plan by the latter.
Earlier, the delegation was scheduled to meet Gandhi here at 4pm but the wait for the meeting proved futile when Gandhi postponed his plan and re-scheduled his meeting with the Orissa Congress leaders for Thursday morning, party’s deputy in-charge for Orissa Subhankar Sarkar told reporters.
Besides the district leaders, general secretaries and Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) vice-president Ranjib Biswal are scheduled to meet the Gandhi scion. The grapevine has it that the leaders are expected to discuss dissensions in the party with the high command over OPCC leadership.
A number of partymen in Orissa are demanding removal of Prasad Harichandan as the OPCC chairman. Harichandan himself had recently met the party vice-president and discussed party matters in the National Capital in a closed door meeting. However, he and the party’s national leadership in Delhi denied moves to change leadership in the local party base.
The meeting is considered a litmus test for Harichandan whose position in the party has been stated to be under radar by a section of partymen. However, the partymen in Delhi said discussions with Gandhi centred round panchayat elections and organisational matters.
Earlier, it was reported that Rahul Gandhi wanted to discuss with district presidents during the proposed meet in order to remove dissension among the cadres over the leadership issue days ahead of panchayat polls.
Rahul Gandhi had to reschedule his meeting with Orissa cadres as he was detained twice by Delhi police and was finally released late in the evening as he tried to meet relatives of an ex-serviceman who allegedly committed suicide over OROP demand. Gandhi along with other Congress leaders, including Jyotiraditya Scindia and Ajay Maken were bundled into a police van for defying police restrictions. Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was also kept in custody for close to 10 hours. The Congress vice-president called the police action an ‘‘assault on democracy’’.
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