Not convinced about Niranjan leading party: Cong MLA Jacob Pradhan

Bhubaneswar: On August 13, when 15 Congress MLAs met a team of AICC observers amid the ongoing row over change in leadership of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC); G.Udaygiri MLA Jacob Pradhan was among 3 MLA’s who went against the legislature party decision to project Niranjan Patnaik as the OPCC chief and separately pledged support to Bhakta Das for the top post.

In an exclusive interview to OTV, Pradhan corroborated his stance saying he was not convinced while signing the resolution of party MLAs projecting Niranjan’s candidature a month back and has changed his mind since then.

“I don’t favour Niranjan for the OPCC top post as the party has suffered similar electoral debacle like under the current leadership of Prasad Harichandan. When the resolution was adopted, most of the MLAs argued in favour of Niranjan Patnaik to be handed the baton of state Congress party. Even though I was not convinced on making Niranjan the chief, I signed it without raising any protests,” said Pradhan.

Later, me, Kailash Kulesika, Krushna Sagaria signed a letter and along with Pradeep Majhi again met the team of observers and told them about our intention to support Bhakta Das as OPCC chief, stated Pradhan adding Bhakta is a good organiser and a better choice to lead the party.