VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Feb. 19: Leaders and workers of the Jharkhand Congress will huddle at Parasnath in Giridih for three days ‘Chintan Shivir’ tomorrow to discuss affairs of the party and the alliance government in Jharkhand.
The newly-appointed state in-charge Avinash Pande said that during the three-day brainstorming session starting from February 20, the party will also assess its strength and weakness ahead of the 2024 general election and the assembly elections in Jharkhand.
Rahul Gandhi will inaugurate the programme and he will also address the party workers. The party has invited a number of academicians and experts to seek their opinions and to discuss with them issues of national and regional importance. A session will be dedicated to the history of the Congress and the relevance of Gandhian philosophy. The meeting will also discuss issues of displacement and rehabilitation as well as women empowerment in Jharkhand.
Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur said that it would be an important meeting since it would discuss how to strengthen the party organization. Thakur said that right after Avinash Pande took charge of the Jharkhand unit, he introduced many new things to mobilize the party organization. The formation of the coordination committee was one of the important things besides ministers of the Congress quota being asked to hold the Janata Darbar. He said that Congress along with senior alliance partner JMM is also working for a common minimum programme of the government.
Congress insiders said that there are some key concerns that many party leaders have planned to raise.
“Strengthening the party organization and bringing unity are indeed important issues. But at the same time, we will also discuss the performance of the government as well as the performance of our ministers. It will have to be discussed whether any decision of the government has adversely affected. We are worried over the ongoing language dispute since, in the long run, it will affect Congress badly,” said a senior Congress leader.
The Congress is a major partner in the JMM-led UPA alliance in Jharkhand. The Congress has four ministers in the government headed by Hemant Soren of the JMM. ”But if we wonder whether we are part of the alliance government or not, the meeting will discuss this also. The performance of the government and the common minimum programme are some of the issues directly related to the government,” said another leader.
Earlier the Chintan Shivir was proposed in Netarhat but the venue was shifted to Parasnath due to space crunch.
