ROURKELA: The Congress in Sundargarh district continues to be a broken house even as the ruling BJD and Opposition BJP have already restructured their organisations to be war-ready for the urban local bodies (ULBs) this year.
Amid indication of election to the ULBs by year-end, the BJD appointed presidents for Rourkela and Sundargarh organisational districts 12 days back. The BJP has also announced presidents for its Panposh, Sundargarh and Bonai organisational districts.
On the contrary, the Rourkela District Congress Committee (RDCC) and the Sundargarh District Congress Committee (SDCC) continue to be dissolved after the 2019 poll drubbing. Party insiders pointed out that in the politically crucial Rourkela Assembly Constituency, the Congress is out of power since 2000 and there is no early hope of revival due to never-ending factionalism.
On February 28, the infighting was evident with two factions protesting separately over Delhi riots and demanding resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah.
The faction of former Birmitrapur MLA George Tirkey and led by the former RDCC president Biren Senapati held a protest at Uditnagar and at the same time, another faction of former Chief Minister Hemanand Biswal led by the in-charge RDCC president Rabi Ray staged demonstration at Sector-19.
A senior party leader said continuing factional feuds are presenting Congress in poor light. Formation of the RDCC and SDCC would curb such activities and restore confidence in committed grassroots Congress workers who have been demoralised, he stressed.
Yet, the situation is unlikely to improve any time soon with the senior leaders unwilling to accept the leadership of Tirkey, who could not make any impact on the electoral fortunes of the party in 2019.
Former Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) secretary Rashmi Ranjan Padhi admitted to the sorry situation stating the BJD and BJP have gone ahead with preparations for the ULB elections this year and also the rural elections in 2022.
However, former Rourkela MLA Pravat Mohapatra said despite the RDCC and SDCC being dysfunctional, Congress activities have not stopped. He hoped that organisational restructuring would be completed soon.