‘I feel like crying,’ says senior Congress leader Tara Prasad Bahinipati

The five-time lawmaker said all the top leaders of the state were busy in “leg-pulling” instead of building the party as a fighting force. This kind of conduct, observed the veteran leader, accounted for the party's poor performances in electoral exercises.

Out of power in the state since 2000, the Congress could win only 14 of the 147 seats in the assembly elections held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls early this year. Of the 21 Lok Sabha seats, it could win only one — Koraput in South Odisha. The vote share of the party in the 2024 assembly elections stood at meager 13.26 per cent.

“There was strong discontentment against the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government headed by Naveen Patnaik before the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly polls. People were looking for some alternative. Since the Congress was in disarray, they chose the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which still now has no organisational base at the grassroots. The BJP got votes as it was a little more organised than us,” said Bahinipati.

Despite being the senior most Congress MLA, the maverick leader known for his outspoken and frank comments on important issues, Bahinipati was not chosen as the Leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP). Nor did he find a place in the recently formed 14-member Congress Steering Committee which was formed under the leadership of party’s Odisha in-charge Dr Ajay Kumar to look after the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee affairs.

“At a time when the Congress leaders need to work together to strengthen the state unit, they seem to be engaged in leg-pulling. It hurts me and I feel like crying,” said Bahinpati.

According to political analysts, the high aspirations of factional leaders in the state Congress unit have always spelt disaster for the party.

“On the eve of every election, factional leaders in the state Congress unit dream of becoming the next chief minister of the state despite knowing the fact they don’t have base at the grassroots. As a result, the party fares very badly. Besides, the unmindful leaders of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) are very much responsible for the current mess,” said Dr Kishore Chandra Swain, a retired political science faculty of Utkal University.