RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, May 19: Jharkhand Congress in-charge Avinash Pande today met Chief Minister Hemant Soren at his residence before leaving the state after his two-day tour.
During the meeting, parliamentary affairs minister Alamgir Alam and state president of the party Rajesh Thakur were also present.
Though information coming from the CM’s office suggests that it was a courtesy visit during which discussions on the issues including the ongoing development works in the state took place, insiders said there was a detailed discussion about the current political condition of Jharkhand, and the probable candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections.
This meeting, an insider said, is also being considered important because the Congress has staked claim for its candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections.
The Congress wants to cash the troublesome situation in which the chief minister has got trapped following the Election Commission’s notice on the issue of office of profit, ED action against senior IAS officer of the state, and the PIL alleging the chief minister of being involved in corruption.
On Wednesday, Thakur gave a clear-cut hint of the pressure politics saying last time a JMM candidate reached Rajya Sabha, and this time it is expected that a Congress candidate will reach Rajya Sabha, the insider said.
Before Pande met the chief minister he held a meeting at the Ranchi Press Club with party workers to chalk out a strategy to implement the decisions taken in the party’s national-level meeting to strengthen the party across the country.
