Congress expels former Odisha MLA who wrote to Sonia Gandhi calling for leadership change

The Congress on Saturday expelled former Odisha MLA Mohammed Moquim, days after he wrote a letter to former party chief Sonia Gandhi expressing dissatisfaction with the current leadership and flagging a “deeper organisational disconnect”, The Indian Express reported.

A notice from the Congress’ Odisha unit said that Moquim had been expelled from the party due to his “anti-party activities”, ANI reported.

After his expulsion, Moquim said that he had “taken the right step [in writing the letter] after due deliberation” and accepted the decision of the party leadership, ANI reported.

“Rahul ji himself says ‘daro mat [don’t be afraid]’,” he added. “I told the truth to the party’s high command but had to be expelled.”

The letter 

Moquim had written the letter to Sonia Gandhi on December 8, demanding a change in leadership and highlighting the wide distance between the party’s top leadership and workers.

The party’s recent losses in several state elections, including Maharashtra, Bihar, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana, reflected a “deeper organisational disconnect”, DD News quoted the letter as stating.

“A series of wrong decisions, misguided leadership choices and the continued concentration of responsibility in the wrong hands have weakened the party from within,” Moquim added.

He said that his letter was reflective of the “silent cries of lakhs of dedicated Congress workers” who felt abandoned, according to DD News.

The former MLA from Barabati-Cuttack said that the current leadership style under 83-year-old party chief Mallikarjun Kharge had meant an inability to “resonate with India’s youth”.

He claimed that the nation was waiting on Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi to take a “central, visible and active leadership role”.

Moquim listed other leaders, including Sachin Pilot, DK Shivamar, Revanth Reddy and Shashi Tharoor, as leaders who had the credibility to “inspire and mobilise young Indians”.

He also highlighted his failed attempts to meet Rahul Gandhi for over three years as a sign of the “wider emotional disconnect” felt by workers.

“The Congress must once again become an example of how India can be governed by vision, inclusiveness and dignity,” he said. “But to achieve this the party needs nothing less than an open heart surgery – deep structural, organisational and ideological renewal”.

Moquim was previously suspended from the party in July 2023, months before the Assembly elections in Odisha on account of his conviction in a vigilance case. Following this, the party fielded his daughter Sofia Firdous from the seat, which she won by over 8,000 votes, The Indian Express reported.

During the 2022 presidential election, Moquim had also gone against the party line and voted for the National Democratic Alliance’s presidential nominee Droupadi Murmu, who is from Odisha.