New Delhi: The Congress managers hope to resolve the Jharkhand crisis soon and have told the rebel MLAs that ministerial appointments may not be changed, but their other demands will be addressed. Around eight of the 12 Jharkhand Congress MLAs, who were miffed over the repetition of all four ministers from the party quota in the coalition government, have been camping in the national capital over the past few days.
“I have spoken to each one of them. Talks are still going on. We hope their issues will be resolved soon and the MLAs will be able to return home,” AICC general secretary in-charge of Jharkhand Ghulam Ahmed Mir told ETV Bharat. On February 18, the high command had asked Madhya Pradesh Congress Legislative Party leader Umang Singhar, a t leader and a former AICC secretary in-charge of Jharkhand, to rush to Delhi to negotiate with the rebel lawmakers.
According to party insiders, Singhar has held several rounds of discussions with the rebels and has been able to convince most of them around the AICC’s point of view. “Most MLAs have understood the high command’s position, but one or two lawmakers are still adamant on their demands. Talks are on with them,” a senior AICC functionary said.
According to party insiders, the rebel MLAs have been told that no change in the ministerial appointments was possible at this juncture as the Jharkhand assembly session is starting on February 23. “They were told that the Champai Soren government was formed in a difficult political situation and once the ministers had been sworn in, it would not be possible to change them overnight. The JMM-Congress-RJD coalition government has to showcase unity during the session and also for the remaining year of the government. Then the Lok Sabha polls are also approaching. However, the high command is open to addressing their other demands like some appointments in the party and some nominations for the various government boards and corporations in due course,” a senior AICC functionary said.
The ruling alliance has 47 MLAs, including 29 of JMM, 17 of Congress and one from RJD in the 81-member House. Champai Soren was elected Chief Minister after former Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED in an alleged corruption case recently. Both the Congress and the JMM MLAs had to be flown to Hyderabad to secure them from BJP’s poaching efforts.
The rebel MLAs have been demanding that the four ministers from the Congress quota Alamgir Alam, Rameshwar Oraon, Banna Gupta and Badal Patralekh should be replaced with new faces in view of the coming Lok Sabha polls. Alam also happens to be the CLP leader. The rebel lawmakers are demanding that the Congress should seek one more ministerial berth, implement a one-person, one-post rule and ensure that the new ministers represent the various divisions of the tribal state.
“So far, the talks are going on in the right direction. We hope for a resolution soon. We have given our demands to the high command in writing and with good reasons. The high command is also aware of the problems. The remarks of the state unit chief regarding the performance of the ministers had been out in the public. If we go to the polls with the same set of ministers, it would harm the party's prospects. It is time to bring in new faces,” one of the eight rebel MLAs camping in Delhi said.
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Read more: Congress Crisis Managers On The Job To Contain Rebellion In Jharkhand, MP Units
