KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, April 28: A local Congress heavy-weight Jitendra Singh quit the party on Sunday, triggering a blow to the INDI Alliance candidate Sameer Mohanty from the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seat.
Jitendra Singh quit the party as he failed to garner support for getting a ticket for contesting the election from the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seat.
A resident of the densely-populated Mango area, Singh was associated with the grand old party for the past 30 years and worked relentlessly to improve the party’s position by working among the people. But at the same time, Singh had become over-ambitious and had been fostering a strong will to contest the Lok Sabha election from the Jamshedpur seat despite the fact that the seat was meant for the INDI Alliance partner Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
“I was waiting for the Congress high command over my demand of getting the ticket for the Jamshedpur seat. They had even asked me to wait. But finally, JMM’s Baharagora legislators was declared as the candidate for the Jamshedpur seat, I was left with no option than to say goodbye to the Congress,” said Singh while addressing a press conference here on Sunday.
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Will contest as an Independent
A disgruntled Singh, however, declared that he would contest the election as an Independent candidate from the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seat and will file the nomination for this shortly.
Jitendra Singh, on being asked, said the INDI Alliance has fielded a very weak candidate from the Jamshedpur seat and asserted that his contest will be with the BJP’s Vidyut Baran Mahto.
“There are so many problems, including the drinking water problem in Jamshedpur’s fringe area as well as in the rural belt of the constituency. But the two-time MP, Vidyut Mahto has not done anything to provide relief to the electorates. I will do the needful if elected, ” claimed Singh.
The former Congressman claimed that he has a strong support base from all sections of the society and would definitely give a close contest to the BJP candidate here.
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