BHUBANESWAR, FEB 13: The daggers are drawn. Loyalists and dissidents are now bracing up for the fight at the Congress Legislature Party meeting on Monday that will elect J B Patnaik's successor. Differences of opinion between the two groups have hardened over the process of selection of the CLP leader.The loyalists want the CLP leader elected from one among the MLAs, but the dissidents say the next chief minister should have the blessings of the high command.Talking to The Indian Express, Law Minister Raghunath Patnaik said ``we do not like anybody from outside to be thrust upon us as the leader of the CLP''. Patnaik demanded that anyone of the MLAs be elected as the leader. ``If an MP is thrust upon us, that will necessitate two elections which is not desirable as the party will have to face the electorate within a year''. Patnaik asserted that his is the majority view of the ministers and MLAs. Significantly, Chief Minister J B Patnaik had on Thursday emphasised that the next leader should be elected- an opinion expressed by former chief minister Nandini Satpathy.However, the dissidents and president of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), Hemananda Biswal hold a different view. Talking to newsmen after returning from Jharsuguda, Biswal said the next CLP leader will be decided as per Congress tradition.Prominent dissident, Higher Education Minister Bhagabat Prasad Mahanty agreed with the PCC chief. Mahanty told this paper that as per Congress tradition, the new leader will be elected with the blessings of the high command. ``That has been the precedent for the last 50 years of Congress history,'' he added.Mahanty said that the person chosen by Congress chief, Sonia Gandhi, should be elected by the CLP leader in the greater interest of the party and the State. It does not matter whether he is an MLA or not, Mahanty said, maintaining that majority of the MLAs support his view.Sources said that a meeting of the CLP will be held on February 15 to decide on the next leader. The leadership issuewill be decided in the presence of observers from the All India Congress Committee (AICC). AICC general secretary, Madhav Rao Scindia, and CWC member, Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, have been appointed as observers. However, the date of their visit is yet to be finalised.There were hectic political activities in the Congress circles with the loyalists and dissidents holding several closed door meetings. However, with half a dozen aspirants in the fray, the Congress Legislature Party meeting is likely to be stormy.
