After Ruckus, Bihar Congress Appoints Assembly Leader

Congress on Friday appointed Ajit Sharma, MLA from Bhagalpur, as the new chief of its legislature party (CLP) in the state.

“Ajit Sharma has been appointed as Bihar Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader,” Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel told reporters in Patna.

Baghel and party leaders Avinash Pandey were observers for the meeting which earlier passed a resolution urging party chief Sonia Gandhi to name the leader for the post.

Sources said Baghel and Pandey held a one-to-one meeting with MLAs and held discussions with Sonia Gandhi after which a decision was taken to appoint Sharma the new CLP leader.

Congress won 19 seats in Bihar assembly. The meeting was attended by 17 MLAs.

The Congress office, where the meeting was held earlier, witnessed ruckus as supporters of two MLAs resorted to pushing and shoving over the choice of a new leader.

Sources said that supporters of Siddharth Singh, who won from Bikram seat, and Vijay Shankar Dubey, a former minister who won from Maharajganj, resorted to sloganeering and pushing each other. They were demanding that their leader be elected to the post.

Speaking to ANI, Bihar Congress President, Madan Mohan Jha said he will take cognizance of the matter.

“I am not aware of ruckus, I will take cognizance of the matter. There is no big deal in two MLAs not attending the CLP meeting today. Abidur Rahman is unwell and Manohar Prasad did meet us yesterday, today he didn’t come,” said Jha. (ANI)