Bihar dissident Congress leaders seek meeting with Sonia

Demanding the removal of Bihar state Congress chief Anil Sharma and Jagdish Tytler, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) official in charge of the party's affairs there, Congress leaders from the state are planning to meet party president Sonia Gandhi here on Thursday, sources said.

Demanding the removal of Bihar state Congress chief Anil Sharma and Jagdish Tytler, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) official in charge of the party's affairs there, Congress leaders from the state are planning to meet party president Sonia Gandhi here on Thursday, sources said.

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Sharma and Tytler are in trouble for using caste names in the list of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee office-bearers.

A team of Congress leaders from the state, led by two ex-PCC chiefs Sadanand Singh and Ram Jatan Sinha and Congress Legislature Party leader Ashok Ram, had met party general secretary Rahul Gandhi here on Wednesday, demanding action against Sharma and Tytler.

Mehmood Ali Kaisar, a party legislator and secretary of the AICC, confirmed that the dissident leaders from the state have sought an appointment with Sonia Gandhi to complain against the list that shows "immaturity" of the state leadership.

"There is geographical and social imbalance in the list," he told IANS.

The dissident leaders allege that they were not consulted before preparing the new list of office-bearers.

Sharma is also blamed for including Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and mentioning her caste in the list. Kumar is among the 64 permanent invitees of the state Congress unit, but cannot hold a party post since since she is in a constitutional office.

The list, released by Anil Sharma at a press conference in Patna Jan 6, had Tytler's signature.

Castes of the permanent invitees and 99 special invitees were specified in the list.