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Infighting in Congress over selection of party nominees for civic polls

BERHAMPUR: The working president of the Ganjam district Congress president, Bhagaban Gantayat had to incur the wrath of his own party men over selection of candidates for different wards of the Berhampur municipality.

He was restrained by groups of Congress workers at the district Congress office in the city for over 10 hours till 3 am on Saturday. The candidates’ list for the municipal election could not be finalised even then. On Sunday, the meetings for selection of candidates again witnessed unruly scenes that even needed police intervention.

The meeting at the district Congress office, which was chaired by the district Congress president, could not draw any results. The venue was shifted to a local hotel to avoid the crowd. According to sources, a group of Congressmen, including former district president Alekh Choudhury alleged that Mr Ganatayat was selecting candidates at the instructions of Berhampur MP and Central Minister Chandrasekhar Sahu without taking into consideration the other powerful groups of the city. In the evening district Youth Congress president Sibaram Patro reached the hotel and demanded some wards for his supporters. It led to an altercation between him and Mr Choudhury. Mr Patro alleged that a minor clash occurred at the spot and he was manhandled.

Mr Patro filed a complaint against Mr Choudhury. His supporters also took out motorcycle rally protesting against the alleged attack on Mr Patro. A police team led by SDPO D.Jena had to rush to the hotel where the Congress meeting to select candidates was being held.

According to sources, candidates of the Congress for all wards of city municipality are yet to be decided. The leaders of the party would rush to Bhubaneswar where they would discuss with the advisory committee of the Pradesh Congress and Mr Sahu to finalise the final list of candidates.

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