Koraput, 3rd Oct 2025: In a move to strengthen the Congress organization in the undivided Koraput region, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has appointed young leaders as district presidents for four districts, as announced in a statement released on Friday evening. The Congress has given prominence to youthful faces in key organizational roles.
Apalswami Kadraka, the MLA from Rayagada and a prominent tribal leader, has been appointed the President of Rayagada District Congress. Similarly, Rupak Turuk has been named President of Koraput, Dr. Lipika Majhi for Nabarangpur, and G. Srinivas Rao for Malkangiri.
According to Congress General Secretary K. C. Venugopal, in the 2024 General Elections, Congress made significant gains in the undivided Koraput district, winning 7 out of 14 Assembly seats. Youth leader Saptagiri Ulaka won for the second consecutive time from the Koraput Lok Sabha constituency. Out of the 7 Assembly segments under this Lok Sabha seat — Rayagada, Gunupur, Bissamcuttack, Laxmipur, Patangi, Jaypur — Congress candidates won in all except Jaypur and Patangi.
In Jaypur, veteran Congress leader Tara Prasad Bahinipati was elected, and in Patangi, Ramchandra Kadam, a senior Congress leader and leader of the Congress Legislative Party, emerged victorious.
Saptagiri Ulaka, the Congress MP, has been given the responsibility of observer for four states. Meanwhile, his wife, Meenakshi Bahinipati, has been appointed as the State President of the Mahila Congress.
This reshuffling reflects the party’s ongoing efforts to rejuvenate the Congress organization by entrusting responsibilities to leaders from the undivided Koraput region, which has a history of producing notable leaders such as:
Dr. Giridhar Gamang – former Chief Minister and nine-time MP
Late Habibullah Khan – nine-time MLA from Nabarangpur
Late Ramachandra Ulaka – six-time MLA from Rayagada and one-time MP from Koraput
Late Damburudhar Ulaka – five-time MLA from Bissamcuttack
Rayagada currently has three Congress MLAs, and with Apalswami as district president, party leaders and workers believe the Congress organization will grow stronger.
Previously, Rupak Turuk, who served as a PCC secretary, has now been appointed as President of the Koraput District Congress.
Lipika Majhi, daughter of former Dabugaon MLA Bhujabal Majhi, has been given charge of Nabarangpur District Congress. In 2024, she contested from Dabugaon but lost to Manohar Randhari of the BJD.
Srinivas Rao, the newly appointed President for Malkangiri, said that Congress is aiming to capture the Zilla Parishad and Block-level positions in the upcoming Panchayat elections.