Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka, Kharge to visit Odisha in January

Sundargarh: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, top leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will visit Odisha in January next year, informed Odisha PCC President Sarat Pattanayak, who is on a one-day tour to Sundargarh district today.

At a meeting with the AICC held in New Delhi recently, the Odisha PCC leaders and MLAs had requested the party high command Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to visit Odisha in January. Accepting the offer, the central leadership expressed their interest to organise a party programme in Sundargarh district, Pattanayak said.

The tribal-dominated Sundargarh was once a Congress bastion. Pattanayak said that the AICC wants to focus on Sundargarh as well as western Odisha to restore status quo ante. For this, a former IPS officer from the neighbouring state Jharkhand who is the former MP from Jamshedpur Dr Ajay Kumar has been given the responsibility as the party’s state in-charge.