BK Hariprasad in place of Jagdish Tytler

Ahead of the general elections, the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) today appointed B.K. Hariprasad at the helm of the party’s affairs in Odisha in the place of Jagdish Tytler.

Hariprasad, a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, will also be in-charge of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

Tytler, who recently courted controversy over allegations of cheating levelled by a US telecom firm, was expected to hold a meeting of party office bearers here on June 19, but the Congress top brass chose to remove him from the job after over two years, party sources said.

Tytler’s days as the state Congress in-charge were numbered after AICC removed Niranajan Patnaik from the post of the president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee and appointed Jaydev Jena in his place.

Tribal leader Sushila Tiriya, however, has retained her post in the Congress Working Committee as its member.

The AICC also named Kalahandi MP Bhakta Charan Das as an AICC secretary while retaining Rajya Sabha member Rama Chandra Khuntia in the same rank. Das was made an AICC spokesperson in May. Former Rajya Sabha member Sushila Tiria also retained her place in the Congress Working Committee.

The party bosses dropped Bargarh MP Sanjay Bhoi from AICC secretary post while speculation that Niranjan or one of his close aides could be accommodated in the national team fell flat.

While the AICC has realigned its focus on Odisha, the state Congress today criticised the BJD for misleading the people on alleged central negligence.

Addressing a news conference here today, Jena said according to the reports of the Centre for Budget and Accountability, Odisha has received the highest per capita central aid.

Jena said the state government had failed to carry out development work and the New Delhi rally was a ploy to divert the attention of people from the deposit collection scam in which BJD ministers and legislators were involved.

On the other hand, panchayati raj minister Kalpataru Das said: “The Congress is trying to mislead the people on this issue. The Centre released the money towards the end of a fiscal, because of which it has become difficult to spend the money.”