Chellakumar replaces Jitendra Singh as new AICC in-charge of Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: In a first step towards restructuring the Congress state unit following the 2019 poll debacle, the party's interim president Sonia Gandhi on Friday appointed A Chellakumar as the new All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Odisha. Chellakumar’s appointment was part of a major reshuffle in the party’s organisational positions in different states.
Chellakumar, a serving Lok Sabha member from Tamil Nadu, would replace Jitendra Singh, who had been looking after the party’s Odisha affairs since March 30, 2018.Singh has been promoted as the party general secretary and would look after the party functioning in Assam.
"We welcome Chellakumar and would work together for revival of the party base in Odisha. Together they will achieve much success. At the same time, we are sad that Jitendra Singh was shifted from the state," Congress state president Niranjan Patnaik told TOI.
Notably, Chellakumar’s appointment came amid the perennial infighting in the party’s state unit and growing demand from within the party to oust Niranjan. Niranjan has been feeling the heat from several colleagues with a section of rebels seeking his replacement in the wake of party’s humiliating defeats in last year’s general elections, Patkura assembly poll in July 2019 and Bijepur assembly by-poll in October 2019. Congress, which had been the main opposition in the assembly, lost the status to the BJP last year.
Having won 16 assembly seats out of total 147 in 2014 to only 9 seats in 2019, the journey of the state Congress has been downwards since 2000. The Congress vote share in the 2019 assembly polls dropped to 16.12 % from 25.7 % in 2014. The party’s vote share in this Lok Sabha polls nosedived to 13.81% compared to 26.38 % in 2014.
In a related development, the Congress has appointed senior leader from the state and former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das as the AICC in-charge of Mizoram and Manipur.