New Delhi: The Congress high command is all set to replace its Bihar unit chief and former education minister of Bihar Ashok Chaudhary. The decision was taken by the party to quell the rebellion in Bihar. Mr Chaudhary was supposed to be replaced in November 2015 when he was made the minister in the Nitish Kumar government. But his proximity to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary inch-arge C.P. Joshi ensured that he continued on both posts. Presently, the Congress has 27 MLAs in the Bihar Assembly after split in the mahagathbandhan.
Insiders claim that as many as nine out of 27 Congress MLAs could lea-ve the party as they were unhappy with Mr Chaudhary style of functioning. Sensing trouble, the Congress high command had dispatched senior lea-ders Jyotiraditya Scindia and J.P. Agarwal last month to assess the situation in the state and quell the rebellion. As many as four MLAs did not meet these senior leaders.
In the last two days, Rahul has also met MLAs and party leaders from Bihar in a bid to assuage their feelings. Sources said that since there was resentment against state unit chief Chaudhary, the high command is all set to replace him.
Interestingly, Mr Chaudhary did not visit Delhi and stayed put in Patna.
“I did not go to Delhi due to personal reasons,” he said. However, he accused senior leaders of the AICC in Delhi of plotting against him.
“From the beginning, forces on behalf of some AICC leaders are working against me. Firstly, they raised the issue of ‘one man, one post’ against me, he said, adding, “I told the party leadership that I am ready to give up ministerial post in favour of the Congress state chief. Now that ministership has gone and I am left with only the post of PCC chief, they have spun lies against me that I am making attempts to trigger split in favour of Nitish Kumar’s JD(U).”
Presently the Congress claims that it has been able to tide over the discontentment among its MLAs in Bihar. But currently the fate of its legislature party in Bihar hangs in a fine balance.
