Bhubaneswar, Feb 11 (IANS): Veteran Congress leader and former union minister Bhakta Charan Das has been appointed as the new chief of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) and will replace Sarat Pattanayak.
“Congress President has appointed Bhakta Charan Das as the President of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee, with immediate effect,” informed AICC press note.
The senior Congress leader had earlier also served as the working president and general secretary of the OPCC.
Speaking to media persons, Das thanked congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and the party president Mallikarjun Kharge for appointing him as the OPCC chief by pledging faith in him.
The new OPCC president said that he would discharge his duty utilising his long experience in organising various movements and the simplicity he followed in his personal life.
Das asserted that he would work by taking along all the senior and junior leaders and workers of the party. He also requested all the leaders who deserted the Congress in the past and had faith in the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, Kharge and Sonia Gandhi to return to the party again.
He said that his vision is to bring Congress back into prominence in the state. Das was first elected to Odisha legislative assembly from Bhawanipatna constituency in Kalahandi district on a Janata Party ticket in 1985-1989.
The new OPCC president was later elected to the Ninth Lok Sabha on a Janata Dal ticket in 1989. He also worked as Deputy Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, Union Minister of State, and Railways at the Center between 1990 and 1991.
Das was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kalahandi Lok Sabha constituency again in 1996 and 2009.
Das’s political career started after joining Sangharsha Vahini founded by Lokanayak Jaiprakash Narayan in 1977.
He also organised various training camps, relief camps and conventions at district, state and national levels on party affairs. He launched `Padyatras' Yatras on cycle several times throughout the State on different social issues. He was actively involved in the J.P. movement in 1975 as a student leader.