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Sonia keeps Orissa Congressmen guessing

Congress leaders in Orissa are keeping their finger crossed and waiting for party president Sonia Gandhi's decision with bated breath on the future of Chief Minister J B Patnaik, who had submitted his resignation letter to her owning moral responsibility for the recent series of violence against and attacks on Christians.

Patnaik, on his arrival from Delhi yesterday had told journalists that he had left the matter with the AICC president to take a decision on his political future.

''I will leave it to the wisdom of the AICC president, and whatever she will decide will be acceptable to me,'' he remarked when newspersons inquired about his latest position at his residence last night.

The chief minister, however, clarified that ''there is no question of withdrawing" his resignation letter although his "loyalists are putting pressure not to quit the post''.

Meanwhile, party dissidents in Bhubaneswar were tight-lipped and were maintaining a calculated silence since the high command was seized of the matter. They said, ''Wait and see what Sonia Gandhi does on the resignation letter''.

Both the Orissa Pradesh Congress chief Hemananda Biswal and deputy chief minister Basant Kumar Biswal refused to speak to the press since Patnaik submitted his resignation letter.

''We have nothing to say on the matter as the high command is yet to take a final decision.''

However, hectic parleys and meetings continued throughout last night in many senior Congress leaders' residence to take stock of the current political development in the state.

Several Patnaik loyalists, who thronged the official residence of the chief minister last night after his return from Nabarangpur, reportedly expressed their ''displeasure'' at his decision to resign.

The loyalists argued that with the nun rape case and the killing of a teenaged Christian girl and another boy, proved to be non-communal, there was no ground for the chief minister to own up moral responsibility and quit his post.

A party MLA owing allegiance to Patnaik even demanded that a Congress Legislature Party meeting be convened immediately to discuss the situation arising out of the latest development.

There was also a reported move to launch a signature campaign in support of Patnaik's continuity as chief minister. However, the loyalists' move did not gather much momentum since like their counterparts, they were also waiting for Sonia Gandhi's decision.

A senior Congress leader explained that the CLP meeting could be convened only after the resignation of the chief minister was accepted and a new leader was selected by the high command. In such a situation, the CLP meeting would only endorse the decision of the high command.

Meanwhile, former Orissa chief minister and veteran Congress leader Nandini Satpathy criticised the selection of a new leader by the high command. While talking to the press, she maintained that the ''onus of electing a new leader vests only with the legislature party and nobody else.''

Satpathy warned that she would not mind ''to join the fray if any decision is taken to impose a leader from outside.''

UNI

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