Strong resentment is brewing among a section of Congress legislators in Jharkhand over the induction of four party MLAs as ministers in the Champai Soren-led JMM government.
As many as 12 MLAs of the 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.
Eight of the 12 disgruntled MLAs reached Delhi last evening to lodge their protest before the party high command over the induction of four party MLAs in the Champai Soren government.
The JMM-led alliance in the state has 47 MLAs (JMM has 29, Congress has 17 and RJD has one) 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 legislators went into a huddle at Ranchi Circuit House just before the swearing-in ceremony on Friday with plans of boycotting it.
However, persuaded by Jharkhand Congress in-charge Ghulam Ahmed Mir and PCC chief Rajesh Thakur, the MLAs reached Raj Bhavan to attend the ceremony.
“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 Bermo legislator said if they fail to hear anything from the party’s state and central leaderships soon, they will be forced to fly to the Rajasthan capital and boycott the budget session of Jharkhand Assembly.
“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,” Mr Jaimangal demanded.
He said the group of 12 MLAs have already handed over a signed letter to the party chief on the matter.
Senior Congress leader and Mahagama MLA Dipika Pandey Singh told PTI, “We want the party to change the ministers and give opportunity to new faces. Instead of adding more womeswen 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.
Devi had contested the Dumri bypoll in 2023 after the death of her husband Jagannath Mahto.
Joba Manjhi, a senior JMM MLA from Manoharpur, who was the women, child development and social security minister in the Hemant Soren government, has been dropped.
Mandar Congress MLA Shilpi Neha Tirkey, too, voiced her discontent.
“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 ji, everyone was hopeful that there will be a reshuffle,” she told PTI.
“Initially, the swearing-in ceremony was scheduled on February 8. When it was postponed, we were assured that a reshuffle will happen. But it was very disappointing when we saw there was no change and those who were openly praising BJP were retained,” Ms Tirkey added.
“Why were new faces not given opportunity… that’s why the whole revolt …We wanted to boycott the swearing-in ceremony, but our state in-charge promised that there will be a good discussion in Delhi about it….It is not about two or four MLAs…It is 12 legislators who are voicing it out together. You appoint anyone…You appoint community-wise, area-wise…We just want fresh faces…We want such faces who can fulfill people’s aspirations. These ministers have not delivered in the past four years, what is the guarantee that they will deliver now,” she said.
The Congress leadership has given an assurance it will discuss the issue, Ms Tirkey said, adding, “We have made it very clear to KC Venugopal that we want a discussion with senior leaders.”
Most of the Congress MLAs objected to the name of Banna Gupta, who had courted controversy recently after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey posted a video purportedly showing him engaging in an “obscene” phone conversation with a woman.
Mr Gupta termed the video “fake and edited”.
Congress state chief Rajesh Thakur told PTI that the issues flagged by the 12 Congress legislators are being looked into.
“They have expressed their feelings to me and I shall bring this to the notice of the party central leadership. The decision by the central leadership will be accepted by all. We are hopeful of resolving it very soon,” he added.
In the 11-member Champai Soren cabinet, there are only two new faces – Basant Soren, JMM supremo Shibu Soren’s youngest son, and JMM’s Chaibasa MLA Deepak Birua.
While eight were sworn-in on Friday, the chief minister and two others- Alamgir Alam of Congress and Satyanand Bhokta of RJD – took oath on February 2.
Basant is the younger brother of former chief minister Hemant Soren, who is in judicial custody in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.
On Friday, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLA Baidyanath Ram, who was allegedly dropped from the list of ministers at the eleventh hour, said he would not tolerate “this insult” and contest as an independent candidate in the upcoming assembly polls if required.
“Everything was finalised and my name featured in the ministers’ list. But, at the last moment, my name was dropped. It is an insult. I will not tolerate it,” Mr Ram had asserted, alleging, “Under pressure from the central leadership of Congress, my name was removed.”
Mr Ram also claimed that Chief Minister Champai Soren assured him that he would resolve the matter within two days. According to sources, the chief minister is likely to go to Delhi later in the day.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) executive president Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on January 31, shortly after he resigned as the chief minister.
The BJP has 26 legislators and the AJSU Party has three. The NCP and CPI (ML) have one lawmaker each, apart from two Independents. There is also a nominated member.
