SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Oct 7: Health Minister Banna Gupta will resign the Dhanbad Lok Sabha in-charge post of the party and 20-point programme minister in-charge.
While addressing the first meeting of the Congress Dhanbad Lok Sabha Coordination Committee meeting at Lubicircular Road-based Vivah Bhawan in the late evening of Friday, Gupta announced that he would hand over the resignation letter to Jharkhand Congress in-charge Avinash Pande and minister 20-point programme in-charge post to Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Monday.
After the closed-door meeting, which continued around 7 hours till 9:30 pm, Banna Gupta did not talk to waiting media persons, but senior Congress leaders said that the health minister was peeved at the allegation of leaders levelled against him during the meeting for ignoring the party workers.
State executive president Jaleshwar Mahto, vice-president Ajay Kumar Dubey, Brajendra Prasad Singh former MP Chandrashekhar Dubey, district Cong president Santosh Kumar Singh, former minister Manan Mallick, district executive president Rashid Raja Ansari, Ravindra Verma, Madan Mahto and other senior leaders were also present and pointed out that since present BJP MP PN Singh is facing anti- incumbency, there is a fair chance for the party to win the Dhanbad Lok Sabha seat.
However, party sources said some leaders of Dhanbad and Bokaro openly expressed resentment, saying neither the minister nor his secretary receives their calls nor calls back. They call the minister for people’s problems but do not get a response, they maintained.
Sources said that Banna Gupta is eyeing the Dhanbad Lok Sabha seat to contest in 2024 but open opposition of an outside candidate by leaders at the meeting annoyed him most. At the meeting, firebrand leader and former Dhanbad MP (2004) Chandrashekhar Dubey even announced that he would not stake his claim for the seat if local leaders were given an opportunity.
Dhanbad Lok Sabha seat is considered a strong base of the Congress. But in the 2019 Lok Sabha election Kirti Azad ( Darbhanga MP of BJP) was given a ticket and he lost the deposit. Since then, the Congress leaders in the coal belt have been opposing an outside candidate.
