RANCHI: Less than a month after the horse trading controversy erupted, the Congress leadership on Wednesday evening deposed its incumbent Jharkhand unit president Rameshwar Oraon and named one of his deputies as his successor.
Septuagenarian Oraon, the finance minister in the cabinet of chief minister Hemant Soren, was replaced by 49-year-old Rajesh Thakur. Thakur was one of the five working presidents who were reporting to Oraon. AICC general secretary KC Venugopal, in his letter, put Thakur at the helm of affairs in Jharkhand with immediate effect and appreciated Oraon for his contributions during his two-year-long stint.
Along with Oraon, four other working presidents – Kamlesh Kumar Mahto, Irfan Ansari, Manas Sinha and Sanjay Lal Paswan – were also deposed. Their places were taken by Singhbhum MP Geeta Koda (former CM Madhu Koda’s wife), Mandar MLA Bandhu Tirkey (former education minister of the state), Jaleshwar Mahto and Shahzada Anwar (former Rajya Sabha candidate of the party last year).
“It is an honour for me that the party’s national leadership has given an ordinary karyakarta like me the opportunity to lead. My focus will be on strengthening the organization at the grassroots, bring cohesion within the rank and file of the party and take the party forward in the state,” Thakur told TOI over phone from New Delhi.
Oraon, an IPS officer-turned-politician, who also served as the chairman of the National SC/ST Commission, will demit office after two years. Handed the leadership baton after Ajoy Kumar’s hasty exit after the 2019 Lok Sabha poll debacle, Oraon led the grand old party to its biggest ever victory in the Jharkhand assembly polls by bagging 16 seats after contesting the polls in an alliance with JMM and RJD.
However, Oraon became the subject of scrutiny soon after his appointment as the finance minister. While there were voices of dissent within the party ranks with him holding two posts, resentment within the MLAs and horsetrading row further worsened his sway within the ranks.
Thakur, a former NSUI leader in Delhi University, rose through the party ranks and became the Bokaro district Congress chief. He was appointed the chairman of media cell of the party during the tenure of former state Congress chief Sukhdeo Bhagat in 2016.
