As many as nine Jharkhand Congress MLAs left for Delhi on Saturday evening to meet the party’s high command demanding to remove the existing ministers from the party quota in the Champai Soren government.
The new development comes amid speculation of discontentment among a section of Congress legislators in Jharkhand over the induction of four party MLAs as ministers in the Champai Soren-led JMM government.
According to a PTI report, 12 MLAs of the grand-old party have threatened to boycott the upcoming assembly session from February 23 and head to Jaipur if the ministers are not replaced by new faces.
The JMM-led alliance in the state has 47 MLAs (JMM-29, Congress-17 and one RJD) in the 81-member assembly.
Unhappy over Congress’ decision to give ministerial berths to Alamgir Alam, Rameshwar Oraon, Banna Gupta and Badal Patralekh again, the MLAs went into a huddle at Ranchi Circuit House just before the swearing-in ceremony on Friday.
”We want replacement of all the four…We the 12 MLAs are together right now barring the four ministers and Pradeep Yadav. We are waiting for the leadership to take a decision on our demand to change the four ministers.
“We want a minister from each division to cover all the five divisions in the state. We also want implementation of the one person, one post’ rule made by Rahul Gandhi,” MLA Kumar Jaimangal, alias Anup Singh, told PTI.
“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 further said.
Jaimangal further noted the group of 12 MLAs have handed over a signed letter to the party chief on the matter.
Senior Congress leader and Mahagama MLA Dipika Pandey Singh was quoted by PTI as saying, ”We want the party to change the ministers and give opportunity to new faces. Instead of adding more women faces, they have retained one woman minister…How do you justify that.” Bebi Devi, excise minister in the previous Hemant Soren government, was given women and child development and social welfare portfolios.
According to a TOI report, AICC has appointed Umang Singhar, MLA from Gandhwani in MP as the observer for the ongoing crisis in the Jharkhand camp and will organise a meeting with the agitated MLAs upon reaching Delhi on Sunday to hear them out.
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