Ranchi: Several Congress MLAs in Jharkhand have asked the party top brass to withdraw support to the Hemant Soren led JMM-Congress coalition in the state after an alleged snub by the JMM by fielding an independent candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections. The move came after CM Hemant Soren on Monday announced Mahua Maji as JMM’s candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls.
Infuriated by this, Congress MLAs and party leaders apprised the Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey about their views on the matter. They further called the JMM fielding a one-sided candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections as an insult to Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Taking this seriously, most of the MLAs and leaders have urged the Congress in charge to reconsider the alliance.
Except for MLAs Anoop Singh and Pradeep Yadav, all the other MLAs including senior Congress leader Subodh Kant Sahai, former minister KN Tripathi, MP Geeta Koda, former minister Bandhu Tirkey, former MLA Sukhdev Bhagat presented their views in front of the Congress in-charge. It is said that many MLAs including MLAs Irfan Ansari, Deepika Singh Pandey, and Poornima Singh had suggested withdrawing support to the JMM led coalition.
Also read: Congress in-charge in Jharkhand to review alliance work
Congress Legislature Party leader Alamgir Alam said that the party should be the first priority for them. However, many senior Congress leaders have been tight-lipped over the issue. Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey also ruled out the protest by the Congress MLAs over the Rajya Sabha nominations. “The Congress does not have the numbers for the Rajya Sabha,” Pandey said.
Over a question on the dissent by Congress leaders over the issue, Pandey said, “No Congress leader dissented. The leaders discussed the issues of their respective areas and membership.” But the way the rift is widening between the JMM and Congress, it is clear that all is not well in the Grand Alliance. It will be interesting to watch how things unfold in the coming days.
