Alliance talks with JMM , RJD and JVM have virtually stopped.
New Delhi: The feud in Jharkhand Congress over the issue of removal of state president Ajoy Kumar has reached the “Dilli Durbar”, following which the All India Congress Committee (AICC) is under intense pressure to replace him. Jharkhand is going for Assembly elections in about four months.
A high-level meeting was convened at the AICC office in the national capital on Saturday following the ugly clashes that took place between rival factions at the state party headquarters in Ranchi this week, which led to a police lathicharge, leaving several Congress workers and two photojournalists injured. According to a source, the high-level meeting was convened at the behest of AICC Jharkhand in-charge R.P.N. Singh which was attended by general secretaries K.C. Venugopal and Ahmed Patel, state senior leaders Subodh Kant Sahai, Ajoy Kumar, Dheeraj Sahu, Alamgir Alam, Furkan Ansari, Chandrashekhar Dubey, Rameshear Oraon, Geetashri Oraon and Manoj Yadav.
“Almost everyone complained against Ajoy Kumar for his inability to lead the state unit, especially at a time when Assembly elections are round the corner. Not a single leader defended the state president. However, the central leaders were of the view that making statements was not acceptable and that disciplinary action should be taken against those who did so,” the source said on the condition of anonymity.
There is strong resentment within the state unit over Kumar’s style of functioning. “He is not giving attention to party affairs. He came to the state party office 65 days after the Lok Sabha election results were announced. He was nowhere to be seen during the Lok Sabha elections. Even after more than one and half years of taking over, he has not constituted committees. He is not capable of taking people along. How can we face the elections in such a situation?” asked a state Congress leader.
He also questioned Kumar’s approach of keeping on reminding Congress workers that they should learn discipline from the BJP, which, according to him, has not gone down well with them. “He hardly interacts with the workers. He has no connect with them. The party is already in a bad shape. How can we take on the ruling BJP with such a demoralised work force? It appears as if he is working for the BJP,” he said.
Though the demand for Kumar’s replacement has been going on since before the May Lok Sabha elections, the move gathered momentum after Congress’ poor show. The party could win only one out of 14 seats in the state. According to the source, even the seat won by Congress was because of the “personal influence” of the candidate (Geeta Koda) and the party did not have much role in it.
Ajoy Kumar, a former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, who was also an MP from Jamshedpur constituency, was appointed as the state president in November 2017. He is considered as a straight-forward person who did not succumb to the pressures of senior state leaders to give tickets to their family members. Sources said that is the reason why they have gone against him.
The mess in the state Congress has resulted in the virtual collapse of the alliance talks that were supposed to be held among the alliance partners like Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) for seat sharing for the coming Assembly elections. Before the LS elections, it was decided that the Assembly elections would be contested under the leadership of JMM leader and former Chief Minister Hemant Soren.