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Journalism of Courage
A meeting between a senior Congress leader and Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav and their joint press conference in Bhubaneswar have left many in the party uneasy. Sources said the All India Congress Committee (AICC) was keeping an eye on the developments in the state, given former Union Minister Srikant Kumar Jena’s position and stature.
These developments come at a time when Jena has complained of being sidelined after Bhakta Charan Das, a leader junior to him, was picked for the post of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president in February. While Jena claimed he “was going nowhere”, Congress leaders in Odisha questioned why he chose to address the press along with the SP president.
At the press conference, there were signs that were enough to make Jena’s party colleagues uneasy. Yadav was all praise for the Congress leader and said “if people like him came together, the fight for social justice will be fought unitedly”.
Jena, however, denied he was planning to leave the Congress. “I have known Akhilesh ji’s family since his father (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and I were Union Ministers together. He (Akhilesh Yadav) told me he was visiting Puri for darshan with his family. I told him he should visit me because he will pass through Bhubaneswar. We are in the INDIA bloc and are working together. I am going nowhere, and will continue in the Congress,” said the veteran leader.
In the Odisha Congress, which is struggling to retain its remaining base, there is a sense that this could have been avoided. A senior Odisha Congress leader said Jena and Yadav’s meeting could have been a “private affair”. “What was the need to address a press conference with him? If he had to meet him, it could have been done on a personal level. Why make it public?” asked the leader.
A senior Congress leader in Delhi said, “Jena ji is an important name in Odisha and there is no way that the party would want to lose him. We will have a discussion with him about the meetings and will ensure he is happy.”
A state Congress leader said he wished the party high command would accommodate Jena “in a post suiting his stature”.
“He is an important leader. He needs to be kept in the party … For that, the party should give him a post in AICC so he does not leave for the SP. The SP is our ally, but every party does what is best for them. If Akhilesh Yadav feels he can gain in Odisha by getting Jena on board, he may do so,” said a Congress MLA in Odisha.
Sources in the SP said the party was looking to bring on board some senior leaders in Odisha. “We are in touch with some BJD (Biju Janata Dal) leaders as well and are trying to get them on board. We plan to expand the party in a state that had been against the BJP for decades,” said a senior leader.
The SP is looking to venture into Odisha and establish its presence at a time when the Congress has increasingly been pushed to the margins of state politics and the BJD is struggling with internal problems, with party chief Naveen Patnaik himself facing questions. The Congress, which ruled Odisha for over 40 years, has steadily declined in the state, with its vote share dropping to 16.12% in 2019. Last year, its vote share fell further to 13.26% even as its Assembly tally rose from nine to 14.
“The state has voted the BJP to power this time, but that is likely to change. That is why our party has picked the state to expand its organisation and base,” said an SP leader.
Jena, who was expelled from the Congress in 2019, returned to the party in March 2024. In the Lok Sabha elections, he lost to the BJP’s Pratap Chandra Sarangi in Balasore.
