No rat in Odisha Congress: Suresh Routray

Bhubaneswar: A day after former Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) chief Niranjan Patnaik stirred up a hornet’s nest saying there are rats in the party, senior Congress leader Suresh Kumar Routray dismissed the statement of Patnaik and said there are no rats in the party and all partymen are gentlemen.

“If anybody wants to see rat, he can put a cage trap so that he can catch it. The Congress party is a huge party which is guided by Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Prasad Harichandan. If Niranjan Babu knows any such rat, he only knows about it. In my view there is not a single rat in the party,” Routray said.

“All are gentlemen in the party,” he maintained.

Meanwhile, Patnaik narrating his Sunday ‘rat theory’, went a step ahead and described that the people involved in corruption are rats.

“Those who forget the ideology of the party, indulge in corruption and try to get personal gain using party’s organizational strength, are rats in the party. They are a burden for the party. If they are not removed, the party can’t grow,” Patnaik stated.

Yesterday, in a scathing attack against the party leadership, the former minister had made fun of some leaders dubbing them ‘rats’ in the party.

“Like all other parties, there are rats in our party also. A special rat killing drive is in progress. Some have been killed and more will be trapped in coming days,” he said sarcastically without naming anybody.

Patnaik too had supported former Odisha chief minister Hemananda Biswal’s opinion that the party’s senior leaders are not given due recognition. He said the party president should convene a meeting in this regard.

On the development, party’s senior leader Sarat Rout said, “Instead of his rat story, if he (Niranjan) involves himself in party activities, then the party can grow.”