Congress sacks five for ink attack on its state president
BHUBANESWAR: Five Congress members, including a woman, were expelled on Sunday for their alleged involvement in the recent ink attack on its state unit president Sarat Pattanayak.
The expelled leaders, who held different positions and were office-bearers in the party, were identified as Prakash Mishra, Shriyasmita Panda, Sandip Routray, Amaresh Parida and Aryan Samal.Mishra was general secretary of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee, Shriyasmita was general secretary of the party’s women’s wing, Parida was the secretary of Youth Congress while Routray and Samal held the posts of secretary of NSUI.
“These five were involved in the disturbing ink attack on our state party president. Their indisciplined act damaged the image of the party. As per the instruction of Pattanayak, the five members have been expelled for six years,” Santosh Singh Saluja, chairman of the disciplinary action committee of Congress, said. Pattanayak was in the middle of a meeting with party colleagues in his chamber at the Congress Bhawan on Friday when the group hurled ink at him. Pattanayak accused the BJP of engineering the ink attack because Congress workers hit the streets across the country against the alleged NEET-UG paper leak.
AICC panel to visit soon: Saluja
BJP has denied its involvement in the ink attack and attributed it to infighting within the Congress.
Saluja denied the ink attack had any links with the party’s dismal show in the recent elections. Saluja said the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has already formed a two-member committee consisting of senior members Ajay Maken and Tariq Anwar to analyse the reasons for the party’s poor performance
“The committee will visit Odisha soon and take feedback of state unit members,” Saluja said.
Ahead of the elections, the Congress set an ambitious goal of increasing its seat count in the 147-member assembly from 9 in 2019 to 90 this time. While the party managed to improve its tally slightly to 14 assembly seats in the recent election, its vote share declined from 17% in 2019 to 13.26%. In the Lok Sabha election, the Congress succeeded in retaining its single seat in Koraput, which it had won in 2019.
The expelled leaders, who held different positions and were office-bearers in the party, were identified as Prakash Mishra, Shriyasmita Panda, Sandip Routray, Amaresh Parida and Aryan Samal.Mishra was general secretary of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee, Shriyasmita was general secretary of the party’s women’s wing, Parida was the secretary of Youth Congress while Routray and Samal held the posts of secretary of NSUI.
“These five were involved in the disturbing ink attack on our state party president. Their indisciplined act damaged the image of the party. As per the instruction of Pattanayak, the five members have been expelled for six years,” Santosh Singh Saluja, chairman of the disciplinary action committee of Congress, said. Pattanayak was in the middle of a meeting with party colleagues in his chamber at the Congress Bhawan on Friday when the group hurled ink at him. Pattanayak accused the BJP of engineering the ink attack because Congress workers hit the streets across the country against the alleged NEET-UG paper leak.
AICC panel to visit soon: Saluja
BJP has denied its involvement in the ink attack and attributed it to infighting within the Congress.
Saluja denied the ink attack had any links with the party’s dismal show in the recent elections. Saluja said the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has already formed a two-member committee consisting of senior members Ajay Maken and Tariq Anwar to analyse the reasons for the party’s poor performance
“The committee will visit Odisha soon and take feedback of state unit members,” Saluja said.
Ahead of the elections, the Congress set an ambitious goal of increasing its seat count in the 147-member assembly from 9 in 2019 to 90 this time. While the party managed to improve its tally slightly to 14 assembly seats in the recent election, its vote share declined from 17% in 2019 to 13.26%. In the Lok Sabha election, the Congress succeeded in retaining its single seat in Koraput, which it had won in 2019.
