Rift widens in ruling alliance in J’khand, Cong MLAs told not to meet CM
Hindustan TimesIn a sign of the widening rift between Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Congress, the two major constituents of the three-party ruling alliance in Jharkhand, the central leadership of Congress has asked party legislators not to meet chief minister Hemant Soren for at least next two months since their grievances have remained unattended, party leaders said. It only increased after former Congress in-charge of Jharkhand, RPN Singh, joined the BJP, with a section of Congress leaders openly demanding reversal of key decisions taken by Singh, including the choice of ministers in the Soren cabinet and appointment of new state unit president to replace Rameshwar Oraon. During the three-day Chintan Shivir chaired by Pande in February, at least two party legislators, health minister Banna Gupta and Deepika Pandey Singh, alleged that JMM under Soren was trying to eat into the core support base of Congress through his decisions. Last week, three former spokespersons of Jharkhand Congress, Alok Dubey, Kishore Shahdeo and Rajesh Gupta, who are considered close to former president and finance minister Rameshwar Oraon, had announced to organise a special meeting of t “grassroots workers” in Ranchi, alleging they were being sidelined by the incumbent state leadership.