Bhubaneswar: Veteran Congress leader and former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das thanked Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge for appointing him as the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president by pledging faith in him.

The new OPCC chief said he would discharge his duty utilising his long experience in organising various movements and the simplicity he followed in his personal life. Das asserted that he would work by taking along all the senior and junior leaders and workers of the party. He also requested all the leaders who deserted the Congress in the past and had faith in the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, Kharge and Sonia Gandhi to return to the party again.

He said his vision is to bring Congress back into prominence in the State. Das was first elected to Odisha Assembly from Bhawanipatna constituency in Kalahandi district on a Janata Party ticket in 1985-1989. The new OPCC president was later elected to the ninth Lok Sabha on a Janata Dal ticket in 1989.

He also worked as Deputy Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, Union Minister of State for Railways at the Centre between 1990 and 1991. Das was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kalahandi Lok Sabha constituency again in 1996 and 2009. Das’s political career started after joining Sangharsha Vahini founded by Lokanayak Jaiprakash Narayan in 1977.

He also organised various training camps, relief camps and conventions at district, State and national levels on party affairs.

He launched `Padyatras’ several times throughout the State on different social issues. He was actively involved in the J P movement in 1975 as a student leader.