Bhubaneswar: Congress MLAs in Odisha met here on Wednesday ahead of the AICC session scheduled to be held from March 16 to 18 in New Delhi.

Sources said the issue of leadership change in the party organisation in Odisha was discussed at the meeting, though it was formally convened to formulate floor strategies for forthcoming budget session beginning March 20.

The party MLAs have been demanding the ouster of Pradesh Congress Committee president Prasad Harichandan for the past two years.

Their demand has become louder with the serious debacle of the party in the recently concluded Bijepur bypoll, in which the Congress not only lost the seat, which it had won thrice consecutively, but also failed to retain its security deposit.

Party chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati, who has been in the forefront in the leadership change campaign, blamed Harichandan for the party's drubbing. "Bijepur outcome will be repeated if he is allowed to lead the party in the 2019 general elections," he said.

"We will raise the issue at the AICC meet, whenever we will get the scope," he said.

However, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Narasingha Mishra said: "There was no formal discussion at the CLP meet on Wednesday. We assembled only to discuss about the floor strategies during the coming budget session of the Assembly."

Mishra said the CLP meet was held earlier this time in view of the AICC session. "We will return to Bhubaneswar on May 19, a day before the commencement of Assembly session. So, we sat to discuss our strategies to be adopted on the inaugural day of session, which will be addressed by the governor." However, he evaded the query as to whether his party decided to boycott the governor's address.

The CLP will again meet on Tuesday after the inaugural session to thrash out its strategies for the entire session.

The party MLAs said there were several issues to be raised on the House floor during the session, the foremost being the acute lawlessness in Odisha, which was witnessed during Bijepur bypoll. "In the pre-poll violence a human life was lost and shoes were hurled at the chief minister, which vindicates the incompetence of police to maintain law and order," said Mishra.

The other issues likely to be raised by the Congress during the session were rise in crimes against women, failure of the Odisha government to handle the drought situation, address the farmers' issues and acute unemployment problem.