Anita Nayak, a councilor in Sambalpur, resigned from the Congress on Wednesday, a day after Kalpana Sahu, a rebel BJP candidate, was elected chairperson of the local municipality.
Election for chairperson of the Sambalpur municipality was necessitated after Reena Trivedi was ousted from the post following a no-confidence vote against her in May.
Nayak resigned from the Congress protesting against the party decision to support Sahu, who quit BJP and contested as an Independent. She was elected unopposed after Congress provided silent support to her. Nayak was interested to contest for the post but her party did not allow her to do so.
In her resignation letter submitted to the party president, Nayak described the party decision as “suicidal” because Congress was in a winning position. “Congress having majority in the municipality surprisingly took such a decision which I am opposed to. I do not want to remain in the party any more,” she said. She alleged that some vested interests in the party ashamed the party by taking such decision. A Congress leader in Sambalpur, Asaf Ali Khan, expressed deep concern over the development and demanded disciplinary action against party councilors for extending support to a candidate of another party. “We are afraid that large sums of money had exchanged hands during the election. We demand action against the councilors for supporting a BJP rebel candidate,” Asaf said.
