Jamshedpur: Fissures appeared in the East Singhbhum district Congress committee on Thursday as factionalism reached at its peak in the organization during the Sankalp Rally organized by the newly appointed district president Vijay Khan and his supporters.
The rally started from Sidhgora and moved through Golmuri and Sakchi and culminated at the district Congress headquarters, Tilak Pustakalaya, at Bistupur. Many supporters of Khan participated in the rally being seen as an exercise to show strength of supporters by the new district president.
They raised slogans in favour of Khan and termed his appointment as a welcome decision taken by the higher authorities in the organization at state level.
Meanwhile, the rally witnessed opposition by the supporters of the former district Congress president Ravindra Jha and former state Congress president and Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Kumar Balmuchu.
Jha and his supporters were present at the Tilak Pustakalaya during the ceremony organized to receive the newly appointed president. He and his supporters however abruptly left the programme at the very beginning while expressing disappointment over the absence of banners or posters of Balmuchu at the venue.
They alleged that Balmuchu, a senior party leader in the state and at national level, was being disregarded and ignored deliberately by the new district president.
The protest registered Jha and his supporters had little impact on the enthusiasm of Khan and his supporters who continued with the programme of the day. They were accompanied by former district Congress president Ramashraya Prasad and Paritosh Singh, president of party�s Jamshedpur Lok Sabha youth wing.
Ever since the announcement of his name, Khan is facing opposition by some of the members in the district committee. His opponents alleged that the decision regarding his nomination as the president was �wrongly� taken by the state Congress president Sukhdev Bhagat. They also burnt Bhagat�s effigy at Bistupur in a show of protest and complained to the state in-charge of the party BK Hari Prasad demanding revocation of the decision.
Ironically, many senior leaders of Congress in the district are keeping mum over the goings-on in the party. They seem to prefer remaining neutral officially and waiting for the right time to divulge their opinion.