Bhubaneswar, Sept 19: The Congress in Odisha has reinstated its presence with two successful demonstrations against the BJP government in Centre bringing back disinterested leaders to the bandwagon.
The Odisha Congress held a massive rally in Bhubaneswar city on Thursday opposing Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu's derogatory remark against party leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. Bittu allegedly called Gandhi the "number one terrorist of the country", in response to the latter's remarks on Sikhs during his US visit.
Thousands of party workers and leaders marched towards BJP state headquarters in the city sloganeering 'Rahul Gandji Jinadabad' from the Congress Bhavan. Police stopped them near Shriya Square that led to a scuffle between police and demonstrators. Later, they gheraoed Kharvel Nagar police station.
Former Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) presidents Niranjan Patnaik, Jayadev Jena, Prasad Harichandan, Sarat Pattanayak, many veteran leaders including Srikant Jena, Rama Chandra Khuntia, Sarat Rout, Ashok Das, youth and student activists gathered together for the first time after years.
"This is the first time after years that all the Congress leaders have joined hands to raise their voices unitedly against the BJP. Today's massive rally spelled out very clearly that the divided Congress house has united. The message was loud and clear – get ready, we are united to fight," said a political analyst, who closely observes the grand old party's political activities in the state.
This was the second massive demonstration by Odisha Congress after the formation of the OPCC steering committee keeping former Cuttack-Barabati MLA Mohammed Moquim at the helm as coordinator.
The party had staged the first demonstration coordinated by Moquim on August 22 outside Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in Bhubaneswar in response to allegations levied by the Hindenburg report after the AICC formed a 14-member steering committee for Odisha dissolving the OPCC.
Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar was appointed the steering committee chairman. Other committee members are former Union minister Srikant Jena, Congress Legislature Party leader Rama Chandra Kadam, former OPCC president Jayadev Jena, Koraput MP Saptagiri Ulaka, senior party leader Ashok Das, former Union Minister Bhakta Charan Das, former MP Anant Prasad Sethi, former MLA Mohd. Moquim, former MLA Debasis Patnaik, senior leader Biswaranjan Mohanty, former Minister Balabhadra Majhi and senior leaders Sashmita Behra and Mohd. Shahnawaz Choudhury.
Later, the OPCC steering committee included all former OPCC presidents and standing party MLAs.
