Reduced to just nine members in the 147-member Odisha Legislative Assembly, the Congress which ruled the state for more than four decades is now in utter quandary. The Grand Old Party which was the main Opposition party before the recent polls has lost the position to the BJP.
With all top leaders, including Pradesh Congress president Niranjan Patnaik, two working presidents — Chiranjibi Biswal and Pradeep Majhi — and campaign committee chairperson Bhakta Charan Das losing the elections, the party now desperately needs inspiring leadership to instill new spirit and zeal among the cadre to rise from the ashes and rebuild the organisation.
The reasons of the catastrophe the Congress encountered in Odisha were better summed up by party’s veteran leader and former Union minister Kanhu Charan Lenka.
Mr Lenka who in the past led the Congress to power in the state, indirectly blamed the party’s top leaders, including PCC chief Niranjan Patnaik, former chief minister Hemanananda Biswal, former Leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra and campaign committee chairperson Bhakta Charan Das for the party’s debacle.