The wind of change is blowing across the state politics. As widely speculated, the state Congress has gone for a major reshuffling before the electoral war. Undoubtedly, the change of guard is aimed at strengthening the grand old political party in Orissa where it is steadily losing dominance against the growing popularity of Naveen Patnaik. However, the way changes have taken place under the close monitoring of Congress High Command, created new equations in Orissa politics.
Let me speak the first thing first. It is first time that Orissa Pradesh Congress will have four working presidents including the Pradesh Head, K.P Singh Deo. Other three are Union minister Chandrasekhar Sahu, MLA Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra and the former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das. Apart from that, former Union minister Srikant Jena has been appointed as the chairman of the PCC’s campaign committee.
The Congress High Command is leaving no stone unturned to restore its lost glory in the eastern state. It was apparent from Rahul Gandhi’s two consecutive visits to the state last year. The AICC general secretary covered nearly half of the state and meet the tribals personally. Thus, the removal of four-time chief minister JB Patnaik and appointment of tribal leader Rama Chandra Ulaka as legislative party leader is considered major boost to woo the voters in the tribal belts in upcoming elections.
The three-member AICC team comprising Maken, Union Minister Narayan Swami and senior leader Janardan Dwivedi observed the moods of people and Congress MLAs in the state. Based on their findings, Union Minister of State for Urban Development and Orissa in-charge Ajay Maken proposed the name of Singh Deo, which was approved by party president Sonia Gandhi.
From the above developments, it is more or less apparent that the JB fraction has been overlooked to energize the struggling Congress.It is widely believed that the clean image of six-time MP K.P Signh Deo would help in their mission. Now the vital question, can Congress stop Naveen making hat-trick?
More
