The Congress leadership is holding meetings to appoint a new State unit chief in Uttar Pradesh even as it announced a new chief for Odisha on Monday.
Accepting the resignation of the incumbent Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief, a statement from party general secretary K.C. Venugopal read: “Congress president has appointed Sarat Pattanayak as the president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee with immediate effect.”
Mr. Pattanayak’s appointment comes as part of the revamp plans for the State unit ahead of the June 2024 Assembly election.
With a deadline of June 1 for every State unit to hold two-day shivir (camps) to prepare a follow-up action plan of the Udaipur conclave, there is a sense of urgency to complete the process in States where such appointments are pending. The Hindi heartland States of U.P. and Bihar are among the States awaiting a revamp.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met with senior leaders to take feedback on who could be the party’s new chief in U.P. after its disastrous performance in the recently concluded Assembly poll. Senior leaders Rajesh Mishra, Rashid Ali and Pramod Tiwari are said to be among the leaders who met Ms. Vadra to discuss the revamp of the U.P. unit.
Soon after losing the Assembly elections in U.P., Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa, party chief Sonia Gandhi had asked all the PCC chiefs to put in their papers. While State unit heads have been appointed in the other States, U.P. continues to be without a chief.
