Bhubaneswar: A group of youths allegedly ransacked the Youth Congress office inside the Congress Bhawan, the party’s state headquarters, here Wednesday early morning, sources in it said.
A groups of youths, suspected to be party members, entered the Congress Bhawan and forced their way into the Youth Congress office by breaking the locked door, they said.
They entered the chamber of Odisha YC president Smruti Lenka and ransacked the office asset before fleeing the area.
When contacted the police said it is yet to receive any complaint about the incident.
Though the exact reason behind the ransacking is yet to be known, those present in the Congress Bhawan at that time said it could be the handiwork of some disgruntled members of the Youth Congress.
A Youth Congress leader said that he was not sure about the involvement of any miscreants and the break in was perhaps by some dissatisfied members as the YC office used to remain closed most of the time.
There are allegations that Lenka meets only a selected group in the party, while the grievances of others are not heard. These YC members may have broken the lock to her chamber after not finding her in the office, a party worker said.
Lenka said he was not aware about who had ransacked his office. “As the incident took place in the Congress state headquarters, the OPCC president may be able to speak on the incident,” he said.
October 3 when the Pipili by-election result was announced a group of dissident party workers had staged an agitation in front of Congress Bhawan demanding removal of OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik for the dismal performance of the party’s candidate in the poll.
Two years ago a group of angry party workers had ransacked Congress Bhawan in protest against the manner of allocation of party tickets for the state election.
PTI