Contest panchayat poll first, advise later

BHUBANESWAR: Infighting in the Congress touched a new low on Wednesday. Working president of the Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra challenged State president K P Singhdeo to contest panchayat election.“Singhdeo should contest panchayat election first and then advise other leaders to contest Zilla Parishad poll,” Mohapatra told a news conference here. His outburst against Singhdeo came in the wake of the direction given by latter to the defeated candidates in the last Lok Sabha and Assembly elections to contest the Zilla Parishad poll to strengthen the organisation. Mohapatra had lost the Assembly election from Bramhagiri in 2009. There are many heavyweights in the State Congress who had lost the last Lok Sabha and Assembly elections and Singhdeo’s advice has not gone down well in the party circles.In fact, Singhdeo’s statement has stirred a hornet’s nest. The three aspirants for the post of OPCC president waiting to succeed Singhdeo have lost elections last time. They include Mohapatra, former Union minister and another working president Chandrasekhar Sahu and former minister Niranjan Patnaik. Besides, several party stalwarts, including former chief minister Giridhar Gamang, former ministers Narasingh Mishra and Nalini Kanta Mohanty were also unsuccessful at the hustings.Singhdeo was not given a ticket by the party to contest either the Lok Sabha or Assembly elections in 2009, Mohapatra said, adding that let him first contest panchayat poll to show the way to others.Mohapatra said defeated candidates, many of whom were MPs and MLAs earlier, have experience in organisational matters to guide the candidates in the Zilla Parishad election. If they contest, who will guide the other candidates, he asked.Singhdeo had asked the defeated leaders to move to their constituencies and concentrate on organisational work to contest the polls without giving statements to media sitting here. He said the issue was discussed with party president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on May 4.