Days after suspension, Chiranjib Biswal says conspirators within trying to divide Odisha Congress

Stating that a particular group within the Congress was working to divide the party in the districts, Chiranjib urged Congress workers to expose such people and their conspiracy.

Referring to statements that he made at a May 8 political meeting, which led to his suspension, Chiranjib said that if people in the Congress did not have the patience to accept well-thought-out suggestions and were jealous of the leadership of erstwhile leaders like former chief minister Janaki Ballabh Patnaik and former deputy chief minister Basant Kumar Biswal, it would be difficult for the party to prosper in the state.

Chiranjib, who is the son of Basant Biswal and the elder brother of former Rajya Sabha member Ranjib Biswal, said he had made suggestions to strengthen the party from the grassroots, to attract the youth and to tell them about the party’s “golden days” from the Janaki-Basant period.

Underlining the sorry state of the Congress, which has been out of power in the state for the past 23 years, Chiranjib said that if speaking the truth was a crime, he had committed it.

“Those who are conspiring against me have not won a single election in the past 25 years. I don’t know under whose instructions such a conspiracy is being hatched. If the Congress leadership in Odisha thinks that they can achieve the mission to win 90 seats from the existing nine seats by keeping me and my family away from the Congress, I express my gratitude to them,” he said.

The All India Congress Committee’s decision to suspend Chiranjib and Cuttack-Barabati MLA Mohammed Moquim came on the basis of a complaint made by the party’s state president, Sarat Pattanayak. The complaint was referred to the party’s disciplinary action committee.

Chiranjib, who vowed to contest the 2024 polls, did not rule out the possibility of his switching to another party.