Bhubaneswar: Congress on Sunday said that departure of its senior leader Bhupinder Singh, who switched over to ruling BJD, will have no impact on the party's prospects in upcoming polls and described the act as "opportunism".
Congress general secretary B K Hariprasad on Sunday said, "Those who quit Congress and joined BJD are nothing but opportunists."
Hariprasad, also in-charge of Odisha, was responding to queries about Singh, who was leader of the opposition and Anup Sai, Congress Legislature Party leader joining the BJD.
On Singh's allegation that the Pradesh Election Committee meeting was held at New Delhi in order to keep him away, Hariprasad said it was simply an alibi cited by Singh.
There was nothing unusual in holding the meeting in New Delhi, said Hariprasad who was on a visit to Odisha to address party programmes and public meeting.
Slamming Singh, also a former minister, for his act, Hariprasad said his departure from Congress would not have any impact on the party in the coming elections.
Hariprasad also lashed out at Chief Minister and BJD leader Naveen Patnaik questioning his party's talk about value based politics.
The Congress leader sought to know whether it was appropriate on the part of BJD, which claims to be practising righteous and value based politics, to indulge in poaching and purchasing people from opposition parties.
Another senior Congress leader and union minister Srikant Jena claimed that Bhupinder Singh would be unable to gain anything by joining BJD.
By quitting Congress, Singh was bound to be a big loser, he claimed.
Bhupinder Singh, along with Anup Sai, resigned from the Congress yesterday alleging caste politics and joined the BJD.
Congress is in the opposition in Odisha for the last 15 years since BJD led by Naveen Patnaik ousted it from power.
Assembly polls in the state will be held along with the Lok Sabha elections on April 10 and April 17 next.