Bhubaneswar, Dec 15 (PTI) Senior Odisha Congress leader and former MLA Mohammed Moquim was expelled from the party after he challenged its state leadership, an OPCC leader said on Monday.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das said Moquim was removed for “anti-party activities”.
“This is for the information of all concerned that AICC (All India Congress Committee) has approved the proposal for the expulsion of Sri Md. Moquim from the primary membership of the party, due to anti-party activities,” he said in a statement.
Moquim, a former MLA from the Barabati-Cuttack assembly segment, had recently challenged the OPCC leadership and written a letter to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.
The former legislator made his letter public and gave a statement to television channels, which is not the proper platform to discuss the party’s internal matter, Congress sources said.
Das had proposed that the Congress central leadership should expel Moquim from the party.
“This has been accepted by the AICC after finding his act a violation of party discipline,” one of the sources said.
Moquim said, “I have no regret about writing a letter to Sonia Gandhi and raising pertinent issues. They have expelled me from the party, but cannot distance me from the Congress ideology which I follow in letter and spirit.” The former legislator had written a five-page letter to Sonia Gandhi, questioning the leadership of the OPCC president and raising concerns about the functioning of the state unit.
Moquim also raised questions about the age of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
“Moquim has challenged both the state and the national leadership of the party,” a senior leader said, criticising the manner in which the former lawmaker raised questions about the party leadership.
OPCC media cell chief Arabinda Das, in a statement, said that Moquim’s communication was “not intended to reform the party, rather to create disturbance in the organisation”. PTI AAM BDC
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