Bhubaneswar: After being expelled from the Congress, senior leader and former Barabati-Cuttack MLA Mohammed Moquim today said the party may have removed him from its primary membership, but no one can distance him from the party's ideology.

Reacting to the expulsion, Moquim said he had hoped his efforts would help bring reforms within the party. However, action was taken against him instead. He said he has accepted the decision taken by the party leadership.

Moquim said he would continue to work for society and made it clear that his political journey would go on. He added that he would decide his next course of action after holding discussions with his supporters.

Referring to Rahul Gandhi, Moquim said the Congress leader often says the party is not afraid of anyone. Following that belief, he wrote a letter without fear, but disciplinary action was taken against him, he said, adding that he has no regret over his actions.

He maintained that his intentions were in the interest of the Congress party.

Action against Moquim

Notably, the Congress has expelled Moquim from its primary membership, citing anti-party activities. The decision was communicated through a notice issued by the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC). The notice, signed by OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das, said the All India Congress Committee has approved the proposal to remove Moquim from the party.

The action came after Moquim openly questioned the leadership and functioning of the Congress in Odisha. He had recently raised doubts over the ability of the current OPCC leadership to revive the party in the state.

Moquim's recent letter to Sonia Gandhi

Moquim had recently written to Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, seeking her personal intervention to strengthen the party both in Odisha and at the national level. In his letter, he flagged what he described as a leadership crisis within the state unit of the Congress.

Referring to the appointment of Sarat Pattanayak as OPCC president in 2023, Moquim claimed the decision had hurt the morale of party workers. He pointed out that Pattanayak had lost six consecutive Lok Sabha elections and said the party’s vote share in Odisha had dropped to 13 per cent under his leadership, which he described as the lowest in the party’s history in the state.

Moquim also criticised the current OPCC chief Bhakta Charan Das, noting that he had lost three consecutive elections. He cited the Congress defeat in the Nuapada Assembly by-election, where the party lost by a margin of over 83,000 votes, and questioned the leadership’s credibility among party workers.

The former MLA further expressed concern over the Congress party’s poor performance in the last three Lok Sabha elections and recent Assembly polls in several states.

In his letter to Sonia Gandhi, Moquim had called for major organisational reforms, saying the party required deep structural and ideological changes to regain public trust and strengthen itself across the country.