Congress wants to field Jharkhand chief Ajoy Kumar from Jamshedpur West

In a meeting chaired by East Singhbhum district Congress committee chief Vijay Khan at Tilak Pustakalaya in Bistupur, Jamshedpur, a decision was taken that if mahagathbandhan parties fight the forthcoming Jharkhand assembly polls together, the Grand Old Party would field its candidate in Jamshedpur East, Jamshedpur West and Potka (reserved) assembly seat.
Sources also said Ajoy Kumar could be fielded from the Jamshedpur West seat.A section of district Congress functionaries feels that if Ajoy refuses to contest from the seat, a leader from the minority community should be the Congress nominee.
District Congress president Vijay Khan talking to TOI on Monday confirmed that a section of functionaries from the party’s Jamshedpur West segment wants Ajoy to contest from the seat.
Jamshedpur West seat has a sizeable Muslim population.
It may be mentioned here that Jamshedpur Lok Sabha has six assembly segments — Jamshedpur West, Jamshedpur East, Jugsalai, Potka, Ghatshila and Baharagora.
Sources said district Congress also decided that if there is no tie-up, Congress would contest on all seats.
Interestingly, the former state minister and former Jamshedpur West MLA from Congress, Banna Gupta, a known face in the party, was absent from the meeting. Absence of Gupta led to a lot of speculation, as after the party’s recent Lok Sabha poll debacle Gupta had questioned the leadership of state Congress head Ajoy Kumar. After this, district president Khan had sought disciplinary action against Gupta for questioning the leadership of Kumar in public.
At the meeting, discussions were held on how to improve Congress’s tally in the coming polls due at the end of the year.