ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Gamang's last days in power?

M I Khan in Bhubaneswar

The rift in the Orissa Congress has gained the stature of a gulf.

Thus, the Congress faction opposed to Chief Minister Gridhar Gamang is active wooing MLAs and leaders against him -- for tomorrow is the day when the high-level three-member committee, assigned to look into the reasons for the Congress debacle this election, visits Bhubaneswar.

The visit assumes significance in view of the demand made by a sizeable number of MLAs for a change in the state leadership before Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday. About 40 MLAs loyal to former chief minister J B Patnaik were in Delhi to lobby for Gamang's replacement as CM.

Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee chief Hemanand Biswal, who returned from the Capital Wednesday, denied that the agitating MLAs had anything to do with him. However, he admitted that he had demanded a change in the party set-up before the Congress high command.

According to reliable sources, the committee, comprising A K Antony, Ambika Soni and Jagdish Tytler, would assess the contribution of all party MLAs and senior leaders in the Lok Sabha election. Besides, it would also look at the contribution of the heads of the party's four frontal organisations -- namely, the Youth Congress, Mahila Congress, Chatra Congress and Seva Dal.

Biswal had earlier stated that none of the heads had co-operated with the party candidates.

Sources in the anti-Gamang camp said that a memorandum carrying the signatures of 46 MLAs including some ministers has been submitted to Sonia Gandhi. Besides the removal of Gamang, it seeks Biswal's replacement. The reason cited is that it was under this leadership that the party faced its worst electoral debacle in Orissa.

"Even after the Emergency when the anti-Congress wave was sweeping the country, the party had managed to retain its stronghold by winning four seats. In 1989, it managed to win three seats. But this time the tally has come down to two," a senior Congress leader said.

Added another: "Gamang and Biswal, the so-called tribal face of the party, have lost the trust of the tribals."

Tell us what you think of this report