Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra at a news conference in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, May 25: The infighting within the Congress surfaced once again with the party’s working president in Orissa Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra firing salvo at the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president K.P. Singh Deo.

“Singh Deo should first contest a sarpanch election before advising others,” said Mohapatra at a news conference at the party office. His outbursts against the PCC chief came following Singh Deo’s proposal that all those leaders who had lost last Assembly and Lok Sabha elections should contest the forthcoming panchayat elections.

“Despite being the Pradesh Congress Committee president, Singh Deo had not got the party ticket to contest the last Assembly elections,” Mohapatra said.

Severely criticising his senior colleague, Mohapatra said: “Those leaders, who are immature, could only give such erratic proposals. The state-level leaders, instead of contesting, should carry the responsibility of coordinating panchayat polls and ensure party’s victory,” Mohapatra said.

He said that the issue would be taken up with the Congress high command. “The PCC president lacks experience to run the organisation and does not have the necessary political acumen. As Singh Deo had not contested the last assembly or parliamentary election, he should contest the coming panchayat elections,” he said.

Senior party leaders are peeved with the remarks of Singh Deo. Another PCC working president Chandra Sekhar Sahu, too, said: “Singh Deo should set an example by contesting the coming panchayat polls. Those leaders who had lost the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections have crossed that stage. During their career, they have fought the municipality, panchayat and zilla parishad elections. No one should forget their contributions to the party,” Sahu said.

It may be mentioned that due to intense infighting within the organisation, the Congress leadership is yet to name the new PCC chief. Though Singh Deo’s term has ended, he is continuing in the office for the past several months. The party, through a resolution, has authorised Congress president Sonia Gandhi to select the successor.