By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 18, 2018: Three Congress leaders of Odisha were on Tuesday called to Delhi amidst speculation that the party high command had called them for discussing the issue of change of guard in the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC).

Leaders such as Chiranjib Biswal, Naba Kishore Das (both MLAs) and former Lok Sabha member Pradeep Majhi were called would meet the party president Rahul Gandhi, most probably on Wednesday, – and put forth their viewpoints of the change of the PCC chief and strategies to strengthen the party.

The Delhi visit of the three leaders assumes significance following the remarks by incumbent PCC chief Prasad Harichandan on Sunday that the state organisation would soon undergo complete overhauling – starting from the the grassroots to the top level.

In fact, after neglecting the Odisha unit of the party for nearly two decades the All India Congress Committee (AICC) of late seems to be making some efforts to salvage its lost pride in the state. The grand-old party which ruled the state for about 40 years has lost its rhythm in the state politics ever since its drubbings in the hands of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in 2000.

Between 2000 and 2014, the Congress’s vote share in the Odisha Legislative Assembly elections has steadily fallen from 35 per cent to 25 per cent. Its condition worsened further in 2017 when the party, with the just 19 per cent vote share, – slipped to third position in the state, making way for the BJP to climb to the second spot to chase the ruling BJD led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the 2019 elections.

On March 30, the Congress president Rahul Gandhi had appointed former Union minister Jitendra Singh as the new AICC in-charge of Odisha.

Similarly, on April 15, the AICC had appointed three central leaders – Rudra Raju, Anil Kumar Chaudhary and Shaikh Mastan Vali, as the new AICC secretaries in-charge of Odisha affairs, – replacing Subhankar Sarkar.