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Shot in the arm for Cong as JVM-P’s ex-MP joins it
Dr Ajay Kumar, a former IPS officer and JVM-P MP, joined the Congress on Friday in presence of state party chief Sukhdeo Bhagat, HRD minister Geetashree Oraon and party leaders.
Dr Ajay Kumar, a former IPS officer and JVM-P MP, joined the Congress on Friday in presence of state party chief Sukhdeo Bhagat, HRD minister Geetashree Oraon and party leaders.
Kumar had lost 16th Lok Sabha elections from Jamshedpur on a Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) ticket and had hinted at joining the Congress in a conversation with HT on August 13.
On joining the party, Kumar said, “The political situation prevailing in the country needs a strong bulwark against divisive and sectarian forces.
I felt the Congress has it in it and found myself closer to its mooring.”
Kumar is likely to be entrusted with the task of forging an alliance of all non-BJP forces in the state to counter the BJP in the upcoming assembly polls.
He had told HT on August 13 that efforts were on to bring the two main regional parties — the JMM and the JVM — to the negotiating table leaving door ajar for the AJSU party.
He had said, “When Lalu and Nitish can join hands, the JMM and JVM can also embrace each other to thwart the menacing BJP.”
Grapevine has it that Kumar may be a JVM plant in the Congress to salvage the alliance as JVM has considerably weakened with the defection of five of its sitting legislators to the BJP.
