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The main Opposition Congress party, which received a jolt following the defection of its senior leader and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh to the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), today said Singh is an ‘opportunist’ and slammed him for maintaining a secret relationship with BJD supremo and chief minister Naveen Patnaik in the past.
“The Leader of Opposition had secretly maintained good relationship with the ruling party chief Naveen Patnaik. When that became public, he had no option but to join BJD,” said Srikant Jena, senior Congress leader and central minister of state for chemicals and fertiliser, during the party’s first poll rally at Anandpur in Keonjhar district.
Along with Singh, Anup Sai, a three-time MLA from Sundergarh also joined the BJD. In past one month, at least five senior Congress leaders including some sitting MLAs have decided to quit the party and hinted about joining the ruling party, mostly because of their disenchantment with the state unit leadership.
The former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Niranjan Patnaik said, “It appears that the state party unit of Congress is being run by a particular group of people and senior leaders of the party are feeling neglected. The party should have a an introspection about leaving of so many senior leaders recently, he suggested.
B K Hariprasad, the state observer of the party, dismissed the effect of spree of resignation from the party on its outcome in the elections. Those who have left Congress are “migratory birds” and are ‘opportunists’, he added.
Singh, a four-time MLA from Narla constituency of Kalahandi district, joined BJD on Saturday, barely four days after denying all speculations in this regard. While leaving the party, Singh has alleged that the Congress in state is being run by a coterie.
“In my entire political career this was the toughest decision to make. I was born in Congress family. In spite of that, the undemocratic functioning of the state congress unit has forced me to resign from the primary membership as well as from the post of Leader of Opposition. From the beginning my only aim was the development of Kalahandi and it would remain so,” he said.
Nearly a week ago, there was rumours that Singh was unhappy with the decision of state Congress chief for not giving him a party ticket for Kalahandi Lok Sabha seat, which is currently being represented by senior Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das. Singh, however, denied any such rift and said, he was peeved as the party deciding to hold the Pradesh Election Committee meeting at New Delhi.
“For the last five years, I was urging the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president to strengthen party organisation at grassroots level. But Union minister Srikant Jena and PCC chief Jaydev Jena suppressed my voice before the central leadership. I have been pressurized to leave and as a result for the first time PEC meeting was held at New Delhi,” he alleged.
Hariprasad said the allegation about the PEC meeting is just an alibi used by Singh while he had taken the decision to join BJD much earlier.
“There is nothing unusual to hold OEC meeting at New Delhi, as we have done it for most other states,” said Hariprasad.
Replying to a query on whether he joined BJD in anticipation of getting a BJD ticket, Singh said, “Neither I negotiated nor I demanded a party ticket for Kalahandi Lok Sabha seat. Before or after joining BJD, I had never negotiated to fight election on BJD ticket. I was a disciplined member of Congress and would be so in BJD also. Whatever role is given by Naveen Patnaik, I would do it honestly,”
Congress MP from Kalahandi Bhakta Charan Das said, “it was clear that the Leader of the Opposition was in the chief minister’s pocket for the last five years. He called the incident as a tainted chapter in the history of democratic politics and a nasty example of horse trading.
