Ranchi
Their hopes having crashed after their party chose to repeat its four Ministers in the new Champai Soren Government, a dozen-odd Congress MLAs have put the leadership on notice making known their disgruntlement in no uncertain terms.
In fact, while the disgruntled Congress MLAs have not hesitated from publicly speaking their mind on the issue and threatened to boycott the upcoming Budget session, as many as eight among them have even flown to Delhi to take up their demand with the party’s central leadership.
Chief Minister Champai Soren, who too went to Delhi, met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and later asserted that everything is absolutely fine. He said it was a courtesy meeting with Kharge. “For seat sharing, we shall meet on,” he added.
When asked about Congress MLAs, he said, “This is an internal matter of the Congress party; they will solve it on their own. I have nothing to say about that. There is no conflict between JMM and Congress; everything is absolutely fine.”
But it is much more complex internally for the ruling alliance as the rebellion will cast its shadow both on the Government as also on the bonhomie of the allies who had so far been sticking together in thick and thin. In Hemant’s absence, it will be a big challenge now for Champai to keep the flock together for the remaining term of the alliance government, especially when BJP will seek to take advantage of the crisis.
While the eight Congress MLAs namely Irfan Ansari, Bhushan Bada, Kumar Jaimangal, Rajesh Kacchap, Amba Prasad, Dipika Pandey, Sonaram Sinku and Umashankar Akela are camping in Delhi, another one Baidyanath Ram has termed his non-induction into the Cabinet as an insult to the Scheduled Caste community.
The demands of the dissenting MLAs include removal of the four Congress Ministers, who were in the Hemant Soren Cabinet too and instead induction of new faces from among them; adherence to one person one post rule and representation in the Government from all five Divisions of the State.
Kumar Jaimangal from the Bermo assembly constituency said the MLAs would boycott the Budget session of the Jharkhand Assembly and head to Jaipur if the party failed to address their concerns. Alamgir Alam, Rameshwar Oraon, Banna Gupta and Badal Patralekh have been repeated as Ministers by the Congress, which thought it to be the safest bet with less than year remaining for the Assembly elections and a couple of months for the Lok Sabha polls.
“The Congress has 17 MLAs and the JMM 29. The JMM has already taken the Chief Minister and the Speaker’s posts. They have six ministerial berths and we want the remaining one. We are not compromising on that. In case Alamgir Alam is retained, he should quit the post of the Congress legislature party leader,” Jaimangal asserted.
Congress’s Mahagama MLA Dipika Pandey Singh also voiced her grievances in no uncertain words. “During the past four years, we had lots of disapproval and disappointments on the quota given to us…Since there was a sudden opportunity and a new cabinet was being formed under Champai Soren, everyone was hopeful that there will be a reshuffle.”
The MLAs are also demanding making a Minister from each of the five divisions of the state namely North Chotanagpur, South Chotanagpur, Kolhan, Palamu and Santhal Pargana
Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Congress’s Jharkhand in-charge, said, “There was a change in government in Jharkhand. Everyone is aware why it happened. Following the cabinet expansion, the Chief Minister wanted to meet the Congress President. It was a courtesy call.”
Talking about upset Congress MLAs, Mir said, “There are some grievances of some MLAs related to their constituencies and organizations. Last night, they came to Delhi. They are likely to meet senior leaders here.”
Congress state chief Rajesh Thakur said that the issues flagged by the 12 Congress legislators are being looked into even as Cabinet Minister Basant Soren, younger brother of ex-CM Hemant Soren, met the dissenting Congress MLAs and held a detailed discussion.
Meanwhile, arrested former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s better half Kalpana Murmu Soren through an X post thanked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his tireless support and solidarity, adding that the BJP led government at the Centre was out to ruin “opposite” governments in various states across the country.
