Odisha: Expelled Congress leader Mohammed Moquim plans new party, urges youths to unite

Bhubaneswar: Expelled Congress leader Mohammed Moquim called upon youths to join hands to provide an alternative to the people of Odisha.

Moquim, who has announced that he will float a new political party by the end of March, hosted a convention on the occasion of the National Youth Day on Monday.

Though no significant politician other than his daughter, Congress MLA Sofia Firdous, joined the convention, people close to Moquim said he was in touch with disgruntled leaders of all three major parties in the state.

"The proposed party will be different from the existing ones and challenge their dominance," Moquim said at the convention, maintaining that "youth power" could bring change in the politics of the state.

The Congress expelled Moquim, a former MLA, in December after he questioned the leadership of the party's state chief Bhakta Charan Das and national president Mallikarjun Kharge.

Asked whether she went against the party line to attend the convention, Firdous, the MLA of Barabati-Cuttack, said, "Not at all. I have attended the platform for a cause, to unite youths." She expressed confidence that her father will succeed in his new venture.

"I have seen my father working for the people since childhood, and he achieves his goals," she said.

Das, meanwhile, took a dig at Moquim when asked about the proposal of a new party.

"Those fearing central agencies like ED and I-T, and want to please the BJP, should not be associated with the Congress," he said.

BJD MP Debashish Samantray denounced Moquim as a pan-Odisha leader.

"He is not known to the people beyond Cuttack. How can he become a leader of the state? The future will tell us his fate," he said.

BJP MLA Saroj Padhi said Moquim's efforts could hardly materialise in the "face of rising popularity" of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.