Digital Desk, Bhubaneswar. Congress has shown former Odisha MLA Mohammad Mokim the way out of the party. Mokim had to face this action for making public a critical letter written to Sonia Gandhi. The party leadership has termed it as indiscipline.
Congress expelled him from the party accusing him of BJP's mentality and working in the interests of the saffron party. Odisha Congress President Bhakta Charan Das said that writing a letter in private may be acceptable, but bringing it to the media is an anti-party move. He said that by making it public it is clear that he does not want to remain in the party.
Mokim's letter contained strong criticism of the current situation of the Congress. He wrote that the party is shrinking politically, organizationally and emotionally across the country. According to him, Congress is losing its legacy not to external opponents but to wrong leadership and wrong decisions.
The letter also said that the party's booth and district level workers are feeling ignored, making election victory difficult. Mokim claimed that despite being an MLA, he could not meet Rahul Gandhi for three years.
Along with losing 6 consecutive elections, Mokim has also expressed concern over the defeat in the recently held Nuapada by-election. Congress had to face defeat in the by-election by 83 thousand votes. The special thing is that this constituency is in the parliamentary constituency of state Congress President Bhakta Charan Das. He raised the question that when a leader is not able to win the trust of the people of his area, then naturally the workers also lose confidence in the leadership.
It is noteworthy that the position of Congress in Odisha has remained weak for a long time. After 1995, the party was out of power and gradually became marginalized before the BJD and then the BJP. He told that in 2000, Congress won only 26 seats, in 2004 it won 38 seats, in 2009 it could win only 27 seats and in 2014 it could win only 10 seats.
Moreover, Congress's number of seats in Odisha dropped to 9 in 2019 and it may win only 14 seats in 2024. The recent incident once again highlights the ongoing struggle over leadership and disagreement within the Congress.
However, Congress can take advantage of Naveen Patnaik's increasing age to make a dent in the vote bank of the party, as BJD had to face unprecedented defeat in the Lok Sabha elections and assembly elections held in 2024.
But looking at the internal strife of the Congress, it can be guessed that the party does not have any plan to make inroads in the state again. In fact, what has happened with Congress in many states is that it has been marginalized because of the regional parties there and BJP. The action of expelling Mokim from the party merely for writing a critical letter on behalf of the national leadership can further highlight the voice of dissatisfaction in the party.