The Congress Bhavan in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 27: Rampant factionalism and a lacklustre leadership may stymie the Congress’s hopes of making a comeback in the state, where it has been out of power for nearly a decade-and-a-half now.

The biggest challenge before the party that celebrates its foundation day tomorrow is making senior leaders sink their differences and putting up a united face as it gears up for the decisive poll battle next year.

As of now, Congress leaders have either been working at cross-purposes or sulking in isolation. There have also been cases of gross defiance of authority resulting in the expulsion of a former MP whose family wields sufficient clout to cast a spanner in the party’s plans for 2014 elections.

Congress profile in the state has hardly changed since 2000 when it was chucked out of power by an electorate seething at the party government’s abysmal failure to contain the damage from 1999 supercyclone and utter mismanagement of relief and rehabilitation. The BJD came to power riding the wave of resentment against the Congress and continues to stay put.

While the BJD has since won two more Assembly elections back-to-back bucking the incumbency factor, the Congress’s performance has been dismal. Forced to sit in the Opposition following the severe drubbing in 2000 when it could manage merely 26 of the 147 Assembly seats in Odisha, the party was expected to put up a better show in 2004. But its tally went up only marginally in those elections stopping at 38. In 2009, it slid further to 27.

The party fared badly even in the recently held municipal elections managing a majority only in 11 of the 85 urban bodies, which went to the polls. This was one of its worst performances in the urban elections that triggered a bout of recriminations.

Pradesh Congress Committee chief Jaydev Jena was slammed for his alleged uninspiring leadership and a complete lack of strategy. Jena’s current mentor, AICC-appointed state party in-charge B.K. Hariprasad, came to his rescue, taking the entire blame for the poll debacle on himself.

His gracious gesture has, however, not changed the ground reality. The Congress in Odisha seems to be paying a heavy price for missed opportunities and bad decisions. In the past four years, a slew of scams, including the multi-crore mining scam, have unfolded in the state, but the party failed to cash in on the opportunity.

Part of the blame should also go to the Congress central leadership, which changed horses midstream when there was absolutely no call for a change. The replacement of former minister Niranjan Patnaik as the state Congress president in May when he was beginning to get a grip on the party affairs actually backfired. While Patnaik, under whose leadership the party, after a long time, had won elections to three urban bodies and organised one of its most successful, albeit controversial rallies in Bhubaneswar, went into a sulk, his successor, Jaydev Jena, struggled right from the beginning.

The bigger problem for Jena has been his underdog and under performer image, which makes him an object of ridicule for seasoned stalwarts such as Niranjan Patnaik, who has refused to contest the next polls under his leadership. Patnaik’s brother and former MP Soumya Ranjan also cocked a snook at Jena’s leadership but was shown the door. Soumya continues to campaign against the Congress through his Sankalpa Yatra under the aegis of Ama Odisha, his Ngo-turned-political outfit.

Jena, during his short stay at the top, has made more enemies than friends, his other bete-noire being former state youth Congress president Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra aka Lulu, who enjoys a sizeable following among the younger generation leaders of the party.

Without the support of seniors, Jena’s plans to build up campaigns against the Naveen Patnaik government on issues such as curtailment of people’s quota of cheap rice have failed to generate expected response.

Union minister Srikant Jena perceived to be an ally of Jena, did not help matters when took potshots at former chief minister J.B. Patnaik recently accusing him of doing precious little for the state’s development during his 15 years at the helm. He was made to eat his words in the face of a severe backlash from Patnaik’s supporters, but there is no denying the bad blood in the party.

However, state party chief Jaydev Jena continues to put up a brave front. “We are oldest party in the country. There might be some differences, but this will not affect our chances of winning the next polls,” he averred.

His rival, Niranajan Patnaik, sought to be cautious. “The Congress is the only party, which can fulfil aspirations of the people, but unfortunately there is a crisis of leadership in the state,” he said.

Srikant Jena, however, exuded confidence about the Congress bouncing back to power.

“In the past 15 years, Naveen Patnaik has made Odisha poorer. His government has also plundered the state’s mineral wealth,” he said.