Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) working president and former MP Pradeep Majhi resigned from the party’s primary membership on Friday.

Speculations are rife that he may join the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) soon.

A prominent tribal leader, who represented Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat from 2009 to 2014, has sent his resignation letter to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi.

In the letter, Majhi cited how he had joined the Congress with utmost enthusiasm with a view to serve the needy people, and the party had also provided ample opportunity and placed him in a good position without any demand from his side.

Majhi enjoys strong clout among tribals in southern Odisha. “The organisation of the party was extremely well managed by your dynamic leadership which gradually declined due to recalcitrant persons occupying pivotal posts at different levels, and now the party has almost lost its credibility which may take a long time to revive,” he pointed out in the letter.

Majhi said he would work hard to serve the people in the future. “I have a great desire to serve my people at whatever position I am, which is now lacking in the Congress party. As such I am painfully quitting the party for which I may kindly be excused. I shall however perform my duties as per your ideology and serve the people with utmost satisfaction,” he wrote.

Following his resignation, Odisha Congress leaders said Majhi betrayed the party and questioned what prevented him from serving the people.

“It’s the Congress party which had given him an identity. It was Rahul Gandhi who had given him ample opportunity and made him a state leader by giving him a chance to contest the Lok Sabha seat. But later, he failed to garner public support. That’s the reason why he lost two Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019 consecutively,” said Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati.

Bahinipati said: “The party had almost decided to suspend him. Getting a hint about it, he quit the party to avoid the blot of suspension. ”

Saying that his resignation won’t affect the party, senior Congress MLA Suresh Kumar Routray said: “The party has a long history. Here people come and remain in the party till their ambitions are fulfilled. After reaping the benefit, they ditch the party. But such people have never affected Congress. ”