Bhubaneswar, Nov. 26: The state Congress's internal feud today took another turn with four party MLAs meeting AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi to discuss the party's strategy for the panchayat polls.

However, the meeting is being seen as a sign that these MLAs - Jacob Pradhan from G. Udaygiri, Krushna Chandra Sagaria from Koraput, Kailash Kulesika from Lakshmipur and Bhujabal Majhi from Dabugaon - had switched loyalties and joined the camp of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Prasad Harichandan. They had earlier been loyal to Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Narasingha Mishra, who is locked in a power struggle with Harichandan. Loyalists from both the camps have been making frequent visits to Delhi to meet central leaders.

"Rahul Gandhi had called us to discuss the panchayat polls scheduled early next year. We also discussed with him the problems of SCs and STs in the state. We were advised to work in unison to ensure the party's success in the polls. We also discussed how to make the party's proposed Jan Akrosh rallies in different parts of the state on November 28 a success," said Bhujabal Majhi.

On the ongoing war between the CLP leader and the PCC president, Majhi said Rahul asked them to resolve all the issues through talks. Referring to the comments of state Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati against the PCC chief, he said the latter's comments were his personal views.

AICC general secretary in charge of Odisha affairs B.K. Hariprasad, however, said the four legislators only had a brief discussion with Rahul about the upcoming panchayat polls in the state. They also raised issues relating to atrocities on the SC and ST people by the BJD government in the tribal-dominated districts of Kandhamal, Koraput, Malkangiri and Kalahandi.

Hariprasad sidestepped a question about the ongoing feud in the party, which has intensified ever since Mishra called an all-party meeting on the Mahanadi water sharing dispute without seeking approval of the PCC president. The PCC president had gone on record saying that the all-party meeting did not have the party's sanction. Since then, the two leaders have not only been avoiding each other, but also organising programmes without taking the other into confidence.

Commenting on the Delhi meeting between Rahul and the MLAs, party legislator Prafulla Majhi, who was not part of the team, said he did not think that the four MLAs, who met the AICC vice-president, had left the Mishra camp.