Pradeep Majhi, former Member of Parliament from Nabarangpur and working president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee, resigned from the primary membership of the party on October 22. Majhi is a prominent tribal leader from Odisha’s southern region and he is likely to join the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
Majhi’s resignation assumes significance in the context of the gram panchayat and urban local body elections that are to be held next year. The Congress had finished third in the elections to the three-tier Panchayati Raj institutions in 2017; the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the major opposition party.
In his resignation letter addressed to AICC president Sonia Gandhi, the former parliamentarian observed that the Congress had lost almost all its credibility and to revive it may take a long time.
Majhi’s resignation comes close on the heels of Kailash Chandra Kulesika, former Congress legislator from Laxmipur constituency in Koraput district, joining the BJD on October 20 along with many of his supporters. Chandra Sekhar Majhi, former Congress legislator from Kotpad seat in Koraput district, had also joined the BJD on September 15.
The BJD has started inducting leaders from other parties with a view to strengthening its position in the panchayat and urban body elections. Ramesh Chandra Parida, a BJP leader who contested 2019 Assembly election from Dharmasala, joined the BJD last month. Another BJP leader, Biswaranjan Mallick, who contested the 2019 Assembly election from the Bari seat, resigned from the party on October 21. He, too, is likely to join the BJD.
