OdishaPlus Bureau
In the 2019 assembly and parliamentary elections, if one party that has suffered maximum damage; it is the Odisha Congress. The rot which started ten years ago culminated in the party losing its stature in its entirety in the just concluded elections. Gone are the days when there was scramble for party tickets. The Congress which had won 38 seats in the 2004 elections was reduced to 27 seats in 2009. It could only manage to win 16 seats in 2014 elections. The party failed to attain double digits and only managed to win nine seats this time in 2019.
It is pertinent to mention here that Niranjan Patnaik took the helm of Congress affairs in Odisha when the party was going through a rough phase in April 2018. It was hoped that the party would sail through the 2019 elections under his leadership. However, things got from bad to worse when several leaders including sitting MLAs quit Congress expressing displeasure over ticket distribution. Many candidates refused to be party candidates and many of them quit Congress to join other parties. So much has been the damage that the future of the party in Odisha looks extremely bleak.
The state party leaders should come out clean and try to instill confidence in the party workers. One big problem in the party is the internal squabbles and leaders speaking in different voices. Surely, the Odisha BJP is a big gainer from the Congress downslide.
What is worrying is that the downslide which had begun on eve of the elections is still continuing. The latest example is the resignation of former Congress MLA from Parlakhemundi K Surya Rao blaming the leadership for its worst ever performance in the Assembly elections. “The State leadership had announced to issue tickets to all sitting MLAs six months before the elections. But I was given ticket on the last day of filing of nomination,” he said adding that because of this delay, the rebel candidate got a chance a create confusion.
His grouse is that no star campaigner of Congress was seen in the constituency though senior BJP leaders including Amit Shah and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik campaigned for their candidates in Parlakhemundi. Infact,this happened in almost all constituencies. According to latest reports, more than half the candidates fielded by the Congress in Lok Sabha and assembly seats, lost their security deposits as the party faced its worst ever drubbing . Not only the party failed in saving its bastions, Congress has lost the struggle to save its base in Odisha as it lost the principal opposition status after party’s poor performance.
Meanwhile, the OPCC has formed six sub-committees to find out reasons behind the party’s worst ever performance in 2019 elections. The sub-committees will submit report to committee chairman Narasingh Mishra by June 30.While there is no disputing the appointment of such committees and also that there is always room for introspection, yet ways should be found out to arrest the slide.
The state party leaders should come out clean and try to instill confidence in the party workers. One big problem in the party is the internal squabbles and leaders speaking in different voices. Surely, the Odisha BJP is a big gainer from the Congress downslide.