VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Feb 7: Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is set to meet MLAs and office-bearers of the party from Jharkhand on February 8 in Delhi when Gandhi will seek their opinions on how to strengthen the base of the party in Jharkhand. Rahul will also seek their opinion on the performance of the Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand where the Congress is an alliance partner.
This is the first such occasion since the 2019 assembly election in Jharkhand when Rahul Gandhi is meeting a large number of leaders of the party from the State. The Congress in Jharkhand has 18 MLAs including four who are the ministers in the Soren-led government. Mahagama MLA Deepika Pandey Singh is said to be busy with the assembly election campaign in Uttarakhand. She is also likely to reach Delhi for the meeting.
It is said that other than MLAs, members of the newly formed state coordination committee have been invited to the meeting. The Congress central leadership has woken up for revamp of the state unit after RPN Singh who was in-charge of the state quit the Congress. The leadership appointed Avinash Pande as the replacement of Singh who visited Jharkhand and held a meeting with MLAs and leaders.
They told Pande that there was none to communicate their voices to the central leadership and RPN Singh never allowed them to meet Rahul Gandhi. They further said that the party organization suffered due to the lack of coordination and communication and there was no appropriate forum where they could raise their voice.
The meeting with Rahul Gandhi was their first and foremost demand and Rahul Gandhi readily agreed to this. However, the formation of the 17 members’ coordination committee and Rahul Gandhi summoning a meeting gave rise to speculation of a possible change of leadership in the state.
“These are speculations and the meeting has nothing to do with it. The party organization has to be expanded which can only be achieved through proper planning and coordination which at present is very much lacking. This meeting is going to be very important,” said a senior party leader.
