Sarat Pattanayak appointed Congress' new Odisha chief

New Delhi, May 23

Congress on Monday appointed Sarat Pattanayak as its new Odisha unit President, replacing Niranjan Pattnaik who resigned from the post after the party's poll debacle.

In the state, the Congress has been decimated since the Biju Janata Dal came to power and has been ruling the state for more thsn two decades, while Congress is in its weakest position in the state and unable to revive itself.

The first test will be upcoming election for cooperative bodies,as in the first phase, the elections to more than 6,000 primary societies will be held on June 19 and June 26 and after this process is over, the election to central and apex societies will be held.