Jamshedpur: Fissures appear in district Congress during ‘Samvad’

Mail News Service

Jamshedpur, March 13: Cracks appeared in the East Singhbhum district Congress party on Sunday as a faction of members accused the district president of insulting him for belonging to the Other Backward Caste (OBC). It all happened during Samvad programme organized by the party in the presence of the state health minister Banna Gupta, finance minister Rameshwar Oraon, rural development minister Alamgir Alam, agriculture minister Badal Patralekh, former Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, ex-CM Madhu Koda, MP Geeta Koda, state Congress president Rajesh Thakur, former Rajya Sabha MP Dr Pradip Kumar Balmuchu and Sukhdev Bhagat.

According to sources, the trouble started when Sonkar, who was going to welcome senior party leaders, was sent back from stage by the district president Vijay Khan. Irked over this, Sonkar vent his ire on Khan and accused him of deliberately insulting him and the OBC community. Sonkar also warned Khan of serious political repercussions, sources said.

Before leaving, Sonkar boycotted the event and refused to listen to senior party leaders.

The senior Congress leaders came to East Singhbhum to hold meeting with party members in a bid to strengthen the party. Through Samvad programme, senior party leaders are interacting with party workers to listen to their grievances and also take suggestions from them.