1st Brahmin chief for Bihar Cong in 27 yrs
NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday named Madan Mohan Jha as the party chief in Bihar, handing over the post to a Brahmin leader after nearly 27 years.
The appointment of Jha, a former minister and a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC), comes a year after Ashok Choudhary was removed from the post in September 2017. Choudhary was accused of trying to engineer a split in the Bihar Congress by allegedly alluring them to join the ruling Janata Dal (United) of chief minister Nitish Kumar.
The party then appointed senior leader Kaukab Quadri as the acting chief. Jha will be assisted by four working presidents— Ashok Kumar, Kaukab Quadri, Saamer Kumar Singh and Shyam Sunder (Dhiraj). Rajya Sabha member Akhilesh Prasad Singh, who was a front runner to the party chief’s post, has been appointed as the chairman of the campaign committee. A 23-member working committee and 19-member advisory committee have also been named.
“This is a good attempt to infuse a new life and fresh energy into the party, which has been till now running as a status quoist organisation. It would have been much better had the party given due representation to dominant Muslim caste Kulahaiya, which influence the outcome of elections in four districts of the state,” senior Congress leader from Bihar Shamim Akhtar said.
However, another senior leader Kishore Kumar Jha lamented that the party has given prominence to leaders from political families and not inducted grassroots workers in any panel.
Many Brahmin leaders had often complained of being ignored in the party that was once dominated by the community. Jagannath Mishra was the last Brahmin leader to head the Bihar Congress (in 1991), and also the party’s last chief minister in 1989-90.
The Mandal politics saw the decline of the Congress and the rise of regional leaders such as Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar in the state’s political landscape.
A few state leaders were also of the view that the possibility of Muslim and Dalit votes shifting to the Congress appears high in case a Brahmin was handed over the reins.