Eight of 12 disgruntled Jharkhand Congress MLAs leave for Delhi

Ranchi: Amid the strong resentment brewing among a section of Congress legislators in Jharkhand over the induction of four party MLAs as ministers in the Champai Soren-led JMM government, eight of the 12 disgruntled legislators took off for Delhi on Saturday evening.

"We are travelling to Delhi. Rest will be reaching tomorrow...We will hold discussions with Congress leadership there...We want replacement of all the four...the 12 MLAs are together barring the four ministers and MLA Pradeep Yadav," Congress legislator Kumar Jaimangal, alias Anup Singh, told PTI.

Unhappy with Congress' decision to give ministerial berths to Alamgir Alam, Rameshwar Oraon, Banna Gupta and Badal Patralekh again, the legislators went into a huddle at a Ranchi hotel, where JMM's new minister Basant Soren, the youngest son of party supremo Shibu Soren, reached to persuade them to change their decision.

"There is no confusion...we are all united," Basant Soren said after meeting the MLAs.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren and state Congress president Rajesh Thakur have already reached Delhi where they will meet AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge.

As many as 12 MLAs of the grand-old party have threatened to boycott the upcoming state assembly session from February 23 and head to Jaipur if the ministers are not replaced with new faces.

The JMM-led alliance in the state has 47 MLAs (JMM-29, Congress-17 and one RJD) in the 81-member assembly.