The Congress has quietly stepped in to address internal factionalism in Jharkhand amid speculation about its legislators jumping ship and the buzz about an impending breakup with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
A senior Congress leader said that now that the media buzz has died down, the party has tried to rebalance itself by setting up a system where all legislators remain in touch with one another and with the state leadership, with the expectation that it may tone down dissent within the Congress’ state unit.
The party has designed a new strategy to keep its flock together by tagging groups of three MLAs with each minister. The party has four ministers in the state and moreover 12 MLAs.
The trio of MLAs will meet the minister once a month, submit a written note detailing constituency-related problems, and receive a time-bound response. According to party leaders, the objective is to prevent legislators from going public with complaints or drifting away from the Congress.
On Friday, December 19, Jharkhand’s Congress state unit in-charge, K. Raju, held an elaborate meeting with all district presidents and MLAs in the presence of the four Congress ministers in the state. The meeting was convened amid reports of growing discontent against the ministers.
Earlier, during a recent meeting of legislators at the AICC, sources suggest that warring leaders were made to shake hands in the presence of Organisation General Secretary K.C. Venugopal.
There was speculation that the ruling alliance with JMM was on shaky ground after Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s meeting with BJP leaders in Delhi. Following this, the PCC has also opened a social media narrative pushing the line that the INDIA bloc is “rock-solid”. This messaging, first articulated by Venugopal in a post on X, aims to project every such whisper as “right-wing fake news”.
