Adding to the woes of the Congress in Odisha, former Paralakhemundi MLA K. Surya Rao, who lost the polls in 2019, resigned from the party’s primary membership on Tuesday.
Mr. Rao had won from Gajapati district’s Paralakhemundi Assembly seat in 2014 but finished fourth in the recent polls. He blamed the State party leadership and the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee for his .
Mr. Rao sent his resignation letter to All India Congress Committee president Rahul Gandhi and a copy to OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik.
When contacted, Mr. Rao said he had not yet decided on his further course of action. “I will discuss it with my supporters,” he said.
 
In his resignation letter, Mr. Rao claimed that due to lack of proper cooperation and support of the OPCC, he lost the election in 2019. He also blamed party leaders for delaying his nomination.
He added that though the OPCC had declared the names of eligible candidates six months prior to the elections, he got confirmation on March 23 only, the last date for filing the nomination papers. Paralakhemundi went to polls in the first phase. “This sent wrong signals to party workers and voters.”
Mr. Rao also lamented that no national or State-level party leader came to campaign for him while the BJP campaign was boosted by an Amit Shah rally, attended by several top leaders. Similarly, BJD president and CM Naveen Patnaik had campaigned for his party candidate.