BHUBANESWAR: The Congress, which has been out of power since 2000 in Odisha, is optimistic that a big political revolution is in the offing in the state.
“Odisha is going to witness a big political revolution, whose foundation has been laid now,” new PCC chief Bhakta Charan Das has said.
He said this during his ‘Padyatra’ from Bhubaneswar to Puri which culminated at the Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri.
The OPCC led by Das took out a 60-km Sankalp Padayatra from Bhubaneswar to Puri’s Lord Jagannath Temple.
The padayatra had begun on February 18.
Holding party flags and banners, a large number of Congress activists along with AICC in-charge for Odisha Ajay Kumar Lallu, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rama Chandra Kadam, senior MLAs Tara Prasad Bahinipati & Dasarathi Gomango and other senior leaders participated in the padayatra.
Das told reporters that he felt blessed and happy being in the land of Lord Jagannath. “Many Congress supporters have joined us and many others will join in the coming days as Odisha was treated as a strong belt of Congress in the past,” he said and added, “A big revolution is going to happen in the state and the political environment will change.”
Das said his first priority is to bring the state party unit in order and then bring a revolution in this soil.
Lallu, who is on his first visit to Odisha after being appointed as in-charge of OPCC, said, “We have come to the land of Lord Jagannath for the welfare of the state and its people and to bring a change in the state.”
After being appointed as the new president, Bhakta Das has started taking steps to strengthen the party’s base in the state.
He has appealed to all leaders who had left the party for some reason to return.
Following his appeal, veteran Congress leader and former minister Suresh Kumar Routray has returned to the party fold.
At present, the Congress has 14 MLAs and one MP in Odisha.
