RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, June 2: Bandhu Tirkey’s daughter Shilpi Neha Tirkey accompanied by Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday filed nomination papers to contest the Mandar election as the Congress candidate.
CM Hemant Soren, Agriculture Minister Badal Patralekh, Dhanbad MLA Purnima Neeraj Singh, Mahagama MLA Dipika Pandey Singh, former union minister Subodh Kant Sahay besides other senior congress party leaders were present on the occasion.
Jharkhand in charge of Congress Avinash Pande confirmed the development.
Before Shilpi filed her nomination papers she, accompanied by her father, took the blessings of JMM supremo and Rajya Sabha member Shibu Soren, Congress party’s Jharkhand in-charge Avinash Pande and former Bishop Felix Toppo.
Bandhu Tirkey is the executive president of the Congress party. He had contested and won the Mandar seat as a Jharkhand Vikas Morcha candidate in the 2019 assembly election. Later he joined the Congress. He lost his status as a legislator from the Mandar constituency on March 28 this year after he was convicted and sentenced by a CBI court in a case of possessing disproportionate assets.
After he lost his status as a legislator, the Mandar assembly seat became vacant and when the time came for the by-election, Congress decided to field Shilpi to compensate for the loss the party had due to the loss of MLA status of Tirkey.
The election is scheduled for June 23.
It was expected that Sunny Toppo, who had contested the Mandar election as the Congress candidate in 2019, will take strong exception to the candidature of Shilpi as his supporters on Wednesday had marked their protest before Pande saying the party can ignore partymen and promote dynamism. But on being contacted for his comment today after Shilpi filed nominations, Sunny did not express any anguish over the development.
“I agree with the party’s decision. I will support Shilpi in the election. I do not have any complaints about the issue. Party must have decided to keep the interest of all in its mind,” Toppo said.
