BHUBANESWAR: The Congress on Friday expelled its Cuttack district president, Manas Choudhury, from the party for six years for ‘indiscipline and
anti-party activities
’. The party, however, did not explain in detail the nature of his indiscipline.
“We came across complaints that he conspired against the candidates in Cuttack district. We also got evidence implicating him and as per our
zero tolerance
to indiscipline, we have expelled him for six years,” a senior Congress leader said.
Unfazed by the expulsion, Choudhury convened a press conference at Congress Bhawan and came down heavily on the party’s state leadership for ‘biased action against him’.
“I am a disciplined leader of the party and have never breached the
party’s protocols
. The party levelled false charges against me as I raised my voice against some faulty decisions of the leadership,” Choudhry said.
The expelled Congress leader also blamed the party’s state president, Sarat Pattanayak, and Odisha in-charge, Ajoy Kumar, for failing to achieve the ‘9 to 90’ target — from nine assembly seats the party had won in 2019 to 90 in 2024.
“I had drawn Pattanayak and Kumar’s attention to the difficulties faced by candidates who had no funding. I had also protested the changing of good candidates at several seats and nomination of weak nominees at other seats. But they did not pay heed to my concerns,” Choudhury said.
He is the second prominent leader to face expulsion after former Jatni MLA Suresh Routray in the last two months. Ahead of polls, the party sacked Routray for allegedly campaigning for his younger son, Manmath who was the BJD candidate in Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat.
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