With Patnaik, Congress hopes to be back in contest

  • | Friday | 20th April, 2018

Similarly, BJD's impressive victory in Bijepur byelection was due to the slide in Congress votes. These four were all in contention for the state Congress chief's post and could have been a prized catch for political rivals. The BJP too had made significant gains there, riding on the Congress vote share. With Patnaik back at the helm, they now eye better prospects. Bhubaneswar: The writing was there on the wall but the execution seems to have come a bit too late.

Bhubaneswar: The writing was there on the wall but the execution seems to have come a bit too late. On Thursday, when Niranjan Patnaik was named the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president, replacing Prasad Harichandan, it brought to an end days of uncertainty and stasis that had gripped the one-time ruling party in the state.Despite the awareness that the 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly elections are not too far away and that Patnaik doesn't have a magic wand to set everything right, there's optimism the party could still make it a triangular contest in the state. Though it may not help the party win significant number of seats, it might affect the fortunes of the BJP and the BJD.The BJP's success in last year's panchayat election was only due to Congress votes going its way. Similarly, BJD's impressive victory in Bijepur byelection was due to the slide in Congress votes. The BJP too had made significant gains there, riding on the Congress vote share."A triangular contest will be altogether a different ball game," said Amareshwar Mishra , a retired professor of political science at Utkal University.Post 2014, elections in the state - the panchayat polls, the Bijepur byelection besides polls at the two urban local bodies of Attabira and Hindol - had become a direct fight between the BJP and the BJD with the Congress, led by Prasad Harichandan, reduced to a side show.It is ironic that Patnaik - who held the party president's post from June 2011 to May 2013 - was removed prior to the 2014 elections, which political commentators then had termed a blunder. Now, with the 2019 elections less than a year away, he has been brought back to lead a depleted Congress in the state.Though moments after he was named party chief, Niranjan said, "nobody should think Congress is fighting a losing battle", in reality the time seems to be too short for any significant upturn in the party's fortunes.But a net gain from the organisational changes could be that the party may successfully retain the loyal Congress votes and prevent further exodus with most senior leaders given plumb assignments.MLAs Naba Kishore Das and Chiranjiv Biswal and former MP Pradeep Majhi were made working presidents while former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das was named chairman of the campaign committee. These four were all in contention for the state Congress chief's post and could have been a prized catch for political rivals. Similarly, former Pradesh Congress Committee presidents Jaydev Jena and Sarat Patnaik were accommodated in the core committee while former Union minister Srikant Jena was made chairperson of the manifesto committee.Since a large section of the party's state unit, including all 15 MLAs, had been pushing for Patnaik as Odisha chief for a while, he might find it easy to keep the flock together.Under Harichandan, the cadres were confused since infighting was out in the open. With Patnaik back at the helm, they now eye better prospects.

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