JMM dares Congress to withdraw its support from Jharkhand government

Ranchi (Jharkhand): Tension is brewing in the ruling alliance in Jharkhand after Congress general secretary Avinash Pandey directed his legislators not to meet chief minister Hemant Soren for the next two months.

According to sources, Pandey felt slighted during his two-day visit to Jharkhand from April 1 when Soren left for Delhi without meeting him. 

The sources said Pandey had not sought any appointment with Soren but kept two slots reserved for meeting him on April 2.

However, the chief minister left for Delhi on April 1 itself. 

A visibly upset Pandey later directed the Congress legislators not to meet the chief minister for the next two months to show their displeasure. 

However, not many Congress legislators are willing to follow this diktat as they cannot afford to antagonise the chief minister and jeopardise the development-related works in their respective constituencies. 

This has prompted the JMM leadership to dare the Congress to withdraw its support to the ruling coalition. 

Many state Congress leaders were of the view that the central functionaries must keep in mind the fact that the party's chips are currently down across the country and that it was in no position to lose another state and an important ally. 

The ruling alliance of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has 47 legislators in the 81-member assembly. 

While the JMM has 30 legislators, the Congress has 16 and RJD one. On the other hand, the BJP has 25 legislators while the CPI(ML) and the NCP have one each.

Pandey has already been facing flak for his handling of the party's ticket distribution in the recent assembly elections in Uttarakhand and prior to that in Bihar in November 2020. 

Pandey was removed as the general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan following the escalation of tension between chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot. 

However, he was re-appointed as the general secretary after Jharkhand in-charge RPN Singh quit the Congress to join the BJP in January this year. 

A section in the Jharkhand Congress also alleged that Pandey is harassing the state leaders by repeatedly calling them for a meeting in Delhi. They further claimed that he was deliberately avoiding holding such interactions in Ranchi.

He had called 15 leaders from the state to Delhi on March 31 and himself went to Ranchi on April 1 and stayed there for two days and has now again summoned 25 leaders to Delhi on April 5.

A Congress leader said Pandey is out to impress the high command by holding these meetings in the party’s war room at Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Road in the national capital.

“He wants to show the high command that he is doing something but we end up spending thousands of rupees in travelling and staying in Delhi for these futile meetings,” he added.