Odisha Congress lacks popular face & leadership, says Moquim; Niranjan hopeful of forming govt in 2024

Already in the line of fire for his straightforward statements, Barabati-Cuttack Congress MLA Mohammad Moquim on Thursday again took a jibe at the state leadership.

Moquim today said that there is no popular face in Odisha Congress and the vacuum has been created after Janaki Patnaik, Basant Biswal and Hemanand Biswal.

“Be it late Janaki Patnaik, Hemanad Biswal or Basant Biswal, all of them had played a crucial role in keeping Congress intact and in power. But Congress in Odisha has reduced to the state of dormancy as there is no such leadership here to win the confidence of people,” said Moquim.

Moquim further said that the state leadership needs to wake up to the situation and take concrete steps to reach out to the people as there is very little time left for the 2024 elections.

“So far no such step has been taken. But I hope that things will change and leadership will rise to the occasion. It will be really tough to put Congress back on track if we lose precious time,” said Moquim.

Moquim admitted that in the recently concluded bypolls, Congress’ vote share had reduced drastically. “We have to accept the reality and it will be tough for us to increase our strength if we don’t put in hard work with proper blueprint.”

Senior Congress leader and former OPCC president, Niranjan Patnaik said, “The vehicle which runs very slowly, can also run fast when there is need. Nothing is impossible and Congress forming government in 2024 is also not impossible.”

(Reported by Jagdish Das)