Hope guillotined

Focus on party, don’t vie for board posts: Maken to MLAs

Vijay Deo Jha Ranchi October 18, 2008

The intensity with which the Congress MLAs in Jharkhand pursued their desire to occupy plum post at the boards and corporations in Jharkhand, seems to be running down.

The apparent reason is that the party high command has put their demand for the time being in cold storage.

Already, the in-charge of the State Congress, Ajay Maken is learnt to have decided not to let the party MLAs or any worker occupy headship of the boards and corporations owned by the State Government.

However, the party insiders believe that the reason which compelled the central leadership to dishearten the party legislators in Jharkhand is that the JMM chief and Chief Minister Shibu Soren supposedly claimed Cabinet berths in the Union Cabinet in exchange of boards and corporations for the legislators of the UPA allies.

On account of the so-called unsavoury decision, the party MLAs held the meeting of the Congress Legislative Party on Thursday. Neil Tirkey, the chief whip of the party said that the party legislators finally buried the matter of board and corporation.

Now the matter is left to the central high command and Chief Minister Shibu Soren for their final decision.

“Instead we decided to focus more upon how to strengthen the party organisation for the next Lok Sabha election,” he added.

Answering to a pointed question about the boards and corporation, Tirkey said that it sufficiently damaged the stand of the party and the repute of the party MLAs. The mood and the phrase used by this belligerent and outspoken party MLA who in the past did not mince word in criticising the senior party leaders for duping party legislators on boards and corporation seems to have realised the boards and corporations are beyond their reach.

About the decision, the well placed sources confided that the central high command categorically reasoned them — politically it would not suit the interest of the party to be the part of the JMM Government in any way.

The Congress would continue with its decision to support the Government from the outside as it did in the case of the Madhu Koda Government.

A senior party leader of the State Congress informed that the decision was communicated to the State president, Pradeep Balmucchu a week back — even though officially the State Congress denies having received such communication.

“We have not received any communication in this regard. It is coming through media. If there is any such move, the central leadership should communicate,” Tirkey said. But the scene became somehow clear when Maken asked Balmuchu not to recommend or finalise the list without his prior scrutiny and approval.