Sonia names Sarat Pattnayak as new Odisha Congress chief

Sarat Pattanayak takes charge of the Congress at a time when the party has been down since the 2019 polls when the BJP replaced the grand old party as the main opposition, writes Amit Agnihotri.

New Delhi:Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Monday named Sarat Pattanayak as the new Odisha unit chief.

“The Congress president has appointed Sarat Pattanayak as the President of Odisha PCC,” a statement released by KC Venugopal, AICC General Secretary Organization said. “The party chief has accepted the resignation of outgoing PCC president Niranjan Patnaik and appreciates his contribution,” he said.

The change was announced days after Sonia held detailed consultations with the AICC general secretary in-charge of Odisha Dr Chella Kumar, who, in turn, had consultations with the state leaders last month. “The focus of the new team would be on the 2024 national elections,” said Kumar.

Niranjan Patnaik, 78, who got the charge in 2018, had submitted his resignation in 2019 following the poor show in the national and state elections to facilitate the change of guard but the party could not take up the issue.

Sarat Pattanayak takes charge of the Congress at a time when the party has been down since the 2019 polls when the BJP replaced the grand old party as the main opposition. Among the other names considered for the top party post in the state included Cuttack-Barabati MLA Mohammad Moquim and Bhakta Charan Das, who is currently the AICC general secretary in-charge of Bihar.

Incumbent CLP leader Narasingha Mishra has often been under attack from his party colleagues for not being aggressive against the BJD government. However, there was no announcement on a new CLP leader, which means that Mishra would continue for now.

Party insiders said the new team will face an uphill task in reviving the grand old party in the coastal state. They cited the party’s poor show in the recently-concluded local body and panchayat elections as an example.

In the civic elections held in March, Congress could win only 7/108 urban local bodies (ULBs). The party drew a blank in the capital Bhubaneswar and got just 1/42 councillors in Berhampur and 8/59 councillors in Cuttack.

Interestingly, the emergence of the BJP in Odisha had started in 2017 when the saffron party showed good results in the local body polls across the state, surprising the Congress managers, who remained complacent. Former MP Pradeep Majhi, who was made a working president, shifted to the BJD last year.

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