Odisha Congress working president Pradeep Majhi on Friday resigned from primary membership of the party, saying that the Congress lacked the desire to serve people. “I beg to state with extreme sadness and pain that I have decided to resign from the primary membership of Indian National Congress,” Majhi, a former MP and an influential tribal leader, wrote in his resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The resignation is yet to be formally accepted by the party. Majhi's decision is a setback for the Congress ahead of panchayat polls, scheduled for February next year. The party finished third in the 2017 rural polls, after the BJD and the BJP. It is not known what Majhi's next step will be, but there is speculation that the former MP may join the BJD
