Soumya Ranjan launches new party

Expelled Congress leader Soumya Ranjan Patnaik on Monday said he would convert his non-government organization ‘Ama Odisha’ into a political party soon.

Former MP and the owner of a media conglomerate, Soumya had been weighing all kinds of options for his political survival ever since he was expelled from the Congress on charges of anti-party activities.

Soumya said, he decided to convert Ama Odisha into a political outfit as “it was high time not just for good people but also good organizations to join politics. Ama Odisha has been doing stellar work in the field of promotion of Odia language, blood donation and creation of awareness to vote in elections since 1996.”

“We will apply to the Election Commission very soon for recognition of ‘Ama Odisha’ as a political party,” he said.

Soumya said that a ‘padayatra’ commencing from Birmaharajpur on November 25 will formalise the birth of his outfit.

Soumya, who was expelled from the Congress for six years on October 1 for alleged anti-party activities, had organised a successful ‘Sankalp Samavesh’ in Biramaharajpur recently.

Earlier this year, Soumya had started organizing Sankalp Abhijan meetings in different parts of the state, claiming he wanted to ‘strengthen the Congress at the grassroots.” However, the grand old party disapproved of it, leading to his unceremonious ouster.

Soumya, brother of former OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik and son-in-law of Assam governor J B Patnaik, said he would hold Ama Odisha conventions at Salepur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Khurda and other places to consolidate his position.

Political observers feel Soumya, a former Bhubaneswar MP and editor of a leading Odia daily, does not have much left to build a party before the 2014 elections, but could be trying to create a base for himself with an eye on the 2019 polls.