CONG WORKERS STAGE STIR OVER DIPIKA SINGH’S CANDIDATURE FROM GODDA

DHANBAD: Congress party workers staged demonstrations on Wednesday at the party office at Hatia More in Godda, in Dumka and the Bajrangi Chowk in Deoghar against the ticket allotment to Dipika Pandey Singh, Mahagama MLA, from the Godda parliamentary constituency for the Lok Sabha elections.

The agitated party workers, led by K Matin Ansari, Dumka district general secretary of the party, carried out intensive slogan shouting against Rajesh Thakur, the state president of the party, and Dipika Pandey Singh during the protest at the Dumma Congress office. The protesters held placards bearing slogans against the duo.

They claimed that although there were better candidates in the party for Godda, Rajesh Thakur favoured the party leader as part of a political match-fixing arrangement between them.

They threatened that all the party workers from the Saraiaahaat and Jarmundi blocks would collectively resign within a week if the party did not reconsider its decision and allot the ticket to a suitable candidate.

“We are not going to tolerate a superficially imposed candidate and instead want a local candidate who has experience working in the area,” said Ansari.

“Pradip Yadav, who has long experience working in the area and also in government, could have been a better candidate,” said a protestor requesting anonymity.

Meanwhile, during the protest at Bajrangi Chowk in Deoghar, hours before the arrival of Dipika Pandey Singh to offer prayers at Vaidyanath Dham temple along with her husband, the protesters carried out sloganeering and burnt her effigy along with Thakur’s.

Singh, while responding to media queries, said, “Everyone, including Furkan Ansari, Pradip Yadav, Badal Patralekh, is united in their resolve to oust Nishikant Dubey from Godda, and I will seek the blessings of these leaders who are senior to me.”

WORKERS SAID PARTY CHIEF FAVOURED DIPIKA AS PART OF A MATCH-FIXING ARRANGEMENT BETWEEN THEM