Farmers Movement Archive

RJD seeks better coordination in grand alliance after it fails to get Madhupur seat

Ranchi: The Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) has demanded for a common minimum programme and a coordination committee of all the alliance partners in the Jharkhand government “for better coordination in governance”. Speaking to media persons here on Sunday after chairing the state RJD unit’s executive committee meeting, state party president Abhay Kumar Singh said, “We may have only one MLA in the state assembly but it must be kept in mind that it was owing to the concerted efforts of all the alliance partners, that BJP could be uprooted from Jharkhand. No one can ignore the important role played by our national president Lalu Prasad in forging the Congress-JMM-RJD alliance ahead of the 2019 assembly election in Jharkhand and every constituent should get its due share of responsibility.” He added, “We had nine MLAs at one time in Jharkhand and we have also gained prominence in Bihar so there is no denial of the fact that if the party workers start focusing on their organizational strength, RJD will become a force to reckon with by 2024 assembly election.” The executive committee adopted and passed 20 resolutions in which major focus was given on strengthening the party and its participation in governance. The RJD demand for more representation in board, corporations and formation of core committees assumes significance in the wake of the party’s recent claims over the vacant cabinet berth — Madhupur — being ignored. On Friday, chief minister Hemant Soren appointed Hafiz Ul Hasan as the minister indicating that the seat is going to be contested by JMM. Hafiz is likely to fight the bypoll, expected in April, from the Madhupur constituency, which fell vacant following the death of his father Haji Hussain. The JMM-Congress-RJD alliance has a seat sharing deal of 6:4:1 ministers and taking a cue from that, Congress insiders on Saturday had said that going by the number of MLAs they have in the House, the Grand Old Party has a natural claim over the seat. The meeting was also attended by former minister and in-charge of Jharkhand affairs Jayprakash Narayan Yadav. Yadav criticised the farm laws and “the Centre’s apathy in addressing the needs of farmers”. He said, “We will stand by the farmers until Centre withdraws all the three laws.” He added, “Unemployment and migration of labourers are some of the major challenges in Jharkhand and it is our duty to attract the government’s attention towards them.” Meanwhile, the party members elected Sanjay Prasad Yadav as RJD’s general secretary on Sunday and all the members were asked not to issue any statements or put up posts on social media which do not toe the party’s ideology.

The Times of India

2021-02-08

Ranchi