Samikhsya Bureau
He is one among many political souls suffering from the humiliation of isolation. It is Srikant Jena, a former senior leader of Congress who, in the recent past got booted out for reasons those need no further mention here. But, his case is bit different and had chosen to be a side-line hooter. In nut shell, what is explicit that Jena is not as much averse to the Congress party but his discord stems more from a personal animus with a particular leader who is incidentally the president of the PCC, Niranjan Patnaik.
From day one Patnaik held the reigns of the party here as PCC chief, Jena’s frustration got manifested like the lava when he tried time and again to indulge in personalised politics to paint Patnaik’s image in bad colours. Now , after parting his ways from the party, Jena’s statements here and there connote that he wants to avenge the insult anyhow, even at his own political peril.
Jena is a leader of that making that at this juncture no party would like to accommodate him nor he is in a mood to float any regional outfit. Because, he himself has made it clear at few occasions during his interaction with the media that, running a regional party is a mounting task. However, as rumours make rounds that Jena is in touch with the Sarad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) and may join the NCP so that he can recycle the bin of tirades at Patnaik in which the latter’s alleged involvement in the mega mining scam stands out.
Secondly, Jena has many often cited the case of ‘ nepotism’ as one crucial worrying reasons behind Congress’s organisational failures which always failed him (Patnaik) to engage with the grass-root party workers.
Now, Jena, perhaps, wants a political legitimacy and a pedestal from where he can scream his lungs out to settle scores with Patnaik and by implication, anyone even intricately linked to Niranjan Patnaik. As chatters are being heard that Jena is in a mood to annihilate his rivals come-what-may. Even he has, reportedly, suspected the intentions behind Soumya Ranjan Patnaik’s asylum in the BJD as a designed game plan of Patnaik brothers to balance the invisible link between the BJD and the Congress faction loyal to Niranjan Patnaik.
Jena must have the realisation that his political goal is not the NCP but his intent is to damage the Patnaik camp as far as possible. But, how many from among the aggrieved souls in the Congress would join the new bandwagon Jena orchestrates, is a thing of guess. But that may be in the back of Jena’s mind to destabilize the Congress as much possible.
