Samikhsya Bureau
As the 135 year old Congress party celebrates its foundation day all over the country, nationally, at one point of time, it appeared that, the grand old party should reach some peaks in 2019. But, a gut-check reveal that, it was all through a so, so situation.
Still remaining in a state of moribund dynastic clutch the party’s achievements were just average except a few far and away standing in some states but far from a national outreach .
However, the CAA protests and the subsequent developments did come as a reprieve but that does not seem to be a ladder that can take the party far enough so soon.
Odisha Congress searches for its bits
Back in Odisha, where the Congress party seem teetering on the precipice of inner squabbling on a perennial routine, a chance to regain its profile as the main opposition party, is a distant dream now.
This unit of the party suffers from the great depression for last 20 years and its virtual fall was visible after the former chief minister J B Patnaik’s political era entered the sunset. Whatever, Patnaik is to go down the history of Odisha politics as a deft player of the game by his cool and calculations, at least to keep the flock under one canopy.
After JB the fissures got deeper and then the rise of the Biju Janata Dal in Odisha saw to it that the semblance of hope for the Congress to unite were frittered away.
And the most eye-catching events were the musical chair on the tenures of the Pradesh Congress Committee heads, those kept rolling one after the other.
In the 2019 general elections Niranjan Patnaik, the present PCC head, who has virtually hung his boots, the party crashed down pathetically.
Niranjan lost from both the seats he contested from and what worse can be a plight for a party when the PCC chief staggers under his own failures and still continues as a reluctant steward ever ready for occasional sound-bites only.
That being a state of affair, its importance for the ‘high command’ has been on the wane for long since.
