Congress hopeful of getting Jharkhand Rajya Sabha seat: Avinash Pande

Among the probable names for the lone Rajya Sabha from the Congress include former Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, state leader Furkan Ansari, PCC chief Rajesh Thakur and AICC general secretary Ajoy Kumar. “We hope the issue would be resolved soon when Chief Minister Hemant Soren meets the Congress president Sonia Gandhi,” AICC in-charge of Jharkhand Avinash Pande told ETV Bharat after he discussed the issue with several state leaders and MLAs in Delhi, writes Amit Agnihotri of ETV Bharat

New Delhi:The Congress on Thursday said it is hopeful that the issue of the Rajya Sabha nominee from Jharkhand would be decided soon. The grand old party is part of the ruling alliance in Jharkhand comprising JMM, Congress and RJD. Two Rajya Sabha seats from Jharkhand will go to the polls on June 10. While the opposition BJP will get one seat, there is a tussle between the Congress and the JMM over who should field the candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat.

Among the probable names from the Congress include former Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, state leader Furkan Ansari, PCC chief Rajesh Thakur and AICC general secretary Ajoy Kumar. “We hope the issue would be resolved soon when Chief Minister Hemant Soren meets the Congress president Sonia Gandhi,” AICC in-charge of Jharkhand Avinash Pande told ETV Bharat after he discussed the issue with several state leaders and MLAs in Delhi.

“We have a consensus over the issue. But, we also want a consensus among the coalition partners. We want to pursue coalition dharma,” said Pande. Explaining why the Rajya Sabha seat should go to the Congress, Pande said that the grand old party was in a better position to take on the BJP nationally as compared to the JMM. Furthermore, the Congress veteran pointed out that earlier, the grand old party had given the seat to JMM founder and former Chief Minister Shibu Soren.

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“We feel that the Congress should get the seat this time. It is time for the JMM to see the big picture. I also discussed the issue with the Chief Minister,” said Pande. A consensus among the ruling coalition was needed to avoid cross-voting, said party insiders, adding that they were aware of the Rajya Sabha poll nominations closing at the end of May. “We are waiting as the JMM leadership is currently preoccupied with the controversy around the mining lease. The meeting between the Chief Minister and the Congress president will take place in a day or two,” said a senior AICC functionary.

The state BJP has alleged that the Chief Minister violated the rules by allotting a stone mine in his name. The Election Commission had sought clarifications from the Chief Minister, who had presented his side of the story to the poll panel. The Congress leaders have alleged that the BJP was unnecessarily raking up the mining lease issue as it wanted to destabilise the ruling coalition.