Mail News Service
Jamshedpur, June 1: With the fall of Grand Alliance candidate Champai �Tiger� Soren at the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha hustings, accusing fingers are being pointed among Congress district party leadership members at random albeit with personal interests being the carrots of concern.
Going by well informed sources �leaks,� former party state president Dr Pradip Balmuchu has let the cat out of the bag by asserting that both, Dr Ajoy Kumar and district president Vijay Khan have weakened the party base and caused enough harm by ignoring old party stalwarts who, in a depressed state, are almost washing their hands off the bickering atmosphere prevailing in the Congress district scenario.
Former Jharkhand minister Banna Gupta is a strong Congress contender for the Jamshedpur West Assembly constituency seat. It was from here that Banna Gupta had won in 2009 polls and taken his seat in the Assembly as a minister but his quest for reelection was squashed by Saryu Roy in 2014 who too became a state minister and continues tellingly with a host of welfare work. He has even questioned his government�s moves in certain areas which have set him apart as a minister who means effective business.
But coming to terms with the present winds blowing in the East Singhbhum Congress district territory, Banna Gupta is concerned over losing his claims for the Jamshedpur West Assembly seat ticket to State president Dr Ajoy Kumar who has been showing keen interest over a seat that is considered safe for him. Party insiders have been oozing confidence and backing the claims of Dr Ajoy Kumar and this seems to be the cause of Banna Gupta�s congestion of hope ducts.
Lending him open support is senior member Dr Balmuchu as he too wants to see Dr Ajoy Kumar�s back but for a different reason. Having held the party�s state committee stewardship earlier, he is nurturing ambitions to hold the reigns of the state Congress chariot once again. With the current state president out of the way (if at all), both, Balmuchu and Banna Gupta can breathe easy and possibly have their way to their respective cakes baked with ingredients of personal ambitions.
Thus this support of one another has seen to mounting pressures on both, Dr Ajoy Kumar and district president Vijay Khan to resign from their posts. Though Banna is on record as stating that he has never criticized Dr Kumar and that he respects him highly, the undercurrent of fear and doubt on losing out to the current party state president in the attainment of his ambition makes his claims a part of false talks. Both, Banna and Pradip have axes to grind against Dr Kumar and Khan for the sole purpose to gain their respective ends by any means.
Balmuchu has received a shot in the arm in the form of a press statement by Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee representative Sanjay Yadav who has stated that the former party state president (Dr Pradip Balmuchu) has been the most successful organizer having ensured 17 Vidhan Sabha and six parliamentary seat victories during his stewardship. �His tenure as party state president remains incomparable,� Yadav mentioned. But, at the same time, he was highly critical of Banna Gupta as he could not find any kind word for the former Jharkhand minister.
On another terrain of this war of seeming attrition where unity is the need of the hour, Dr Ajoy Kumar�s supporters who probably outnumber his baiters are pressurizing him to go for the Jamshedpur West Assembly constituency seat. They feel that the former super cop�s chances of victory from this seat are absolute and so they are seeing it as a safe pedestal. Perhaps these considerations have led to Dr Kumar�s showing keen interest in this constituency.
Congress district president Vijay Khan has added fuel to the fire of internal party bickering by sending a show cause letter to Banna Gupta for baseless criticism of state president and irresponsible behavior. This move of Khan has turned out to be the fire on which both, Balmuchu and Gupta are cooking their political broth. Balmuchu stated that the district president was unaware of party norms. �Vijay Khan has no authority to show cause an AICC member.� Banna Gupta too went on record while taking a swipe at the district president. He said, �It is a matter of shame and pity that Vijay Khan is not educated in the constitution of the Congress party. He is not empowered to issue show cause notice to an AICC member. But if he has sent it, I have not received it. If and when I do I will give a befitting reply.�
Not to be cowed down by attacks, allegations and demands for his resignation by particularly the duo of Dr Pradip Balmuchu and Banna Gupta, Congress district president Vijay Khan countered, �Before accusing us (him and Dr Ajoy Kumar) of destabilizing the party, let Dr Balmuchu account for the ways he has contributed to its stability in his tenure as Congress state president. Today the party�s setback is due to some senior leaders who are more interested in propagating the interests of their children than the party�s. Dr Balmuchu managed to get a ticket for his daughter for the Ghatshila seat which she lost. She has not set foot in her constituency ever since her defeat.�
Khan also alleged that although being a senior party leader Dr Pradip Balmuchu continues to keep a room at Tilak Pustakalay, the district unit�s headquarters, in his possession sine the past 10 years. Regarding the show cause notice issued to Banna Gupta, Vijay Khan informed, �Tilak Pustakalay�s Naresh Verma had delivered the show cause letter personally at Banna Gupta�s office to JP Sahu who was present there.�
A meeting was convened at Tilak Pustakalay on Thursday, May 30 where members urged state president Dr Ajoy Kumar and his district counterpart Vijay Khan to take back their resignations as victory and defeat were parts of the game. The Congress members present were unanimous in their view that Dr Ajoy Kumar�s leadership had seen to the resurgence of political motivation. They pointed out that it was due to Dr Kumar�s astute planning and leadership that won for the party the Singhbhum Lok Sabha seat after a long hiatus and also attributed the success in the Lohardaga and Kolebira by polls to him.
At the end of the day and beginning of a new phase after the setback suffered at the Jamshedpur LS hustings, the picture to a layman does not arouse confidence in the grand old party�s East Singhbhum chapter what with internal bickering driven by self interests that overlook the party�s progress.
