Congress president Sonia Gandhi is reported to be deeply upset with party leaders handling Jharkhand which includes the All India Congress Committe incharge Keshava Rao and others for "having made a mess of Jharkhand", for not firming up any alliances so far, for lacking in preparations in terms of selection of candidates and bringing on board strong, viable candidates who can put up a good fight in the forthcoming assembly polls.
The central election committee of the party met on Monday to finalize the list of candidates, but the exercise is being done in a vacuum since the party is still unclear of whether it is going ahead with any allies or not. The party is still negotiating with Babulal Marandi for seat sharing, with Ahmed Patel Sonia's political secretary, admitting that discussions are still on with him but so far there is not much headway.
Sources say that the Congress has sent feelers to Shibhu Soren over a likely tie up, an issue over which the party is deeply divided as party leaders say that a tie up with him would send the signal that the Congress was backing Soren for the chief minister's post.
A senior leader said that the leadership should have sat up and taken notice when Ajay Maken insisted that the Congress should not support Madhu Koda, but at that time the party turned a blind eye and instead of Koda being replaced, Maken was removed. Koda's money links stretch all the way to Mumbai, and with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar demanding that Koda's Bihar connections be unearthed, the party is worried.
A senior leader said the fact that the Congress is having a tough time putting together credible candidates on all 81 assembly seats, especially when elections have been on the horizon for quite some time is a revelation. It is interesting that the party had removed Harikesh Bahadur who was in charge of Jharkhand during the last elections for messing up the elections but this time he has been brought back as part of the team along with Mukul Wasnik and Keshava Rao.
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