Congress revamps Bihar unit, appoints PCC chief after a year

The Congress Tuesday appointed its legislator Madan Mohan Jha as the party's state president as part of efforts to revamp the crisis-ridden Bihar unit.

Rajya Sabha MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh, who was being seen as a frontrunner for the PCC chief post, has been made the Chairman of the Campaign Committee, according to a release issued from the office of Shakti Singh Gohil, the AICC in-charge for Bihar.

The post of BPCC president was vacant for close to a year after removal of Ashok Choudhary following disintegration of the 'grand alliance' in July 2017 in which Congress was a constituent with the RJD and JD(U).

Choudhary later walked out of the Congress and joined Nitish Kumar's JD(U).

In the restructured BPCC, there are four Working Presidents including the incumbent Kaukab Qadri who has been holding the post since Choudhary quit in September last year.

Others are Shyam Sundar Dheeraj, Samir Kumar Singh and Ashok Kumar, the release said.

A 23-member PCC working committee has also been constituted which includes names like state women wing president Amita Bhushan and vocal party MLC Prem Chand Mishra, the release said.

In addition, a 19-member advisory committee has been set up comprising senior leaders like Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Lok Sabha member Ranjeeta Ranjan, former Union ministers Shakeel Ahmed and K K Tiwari, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Congress legislature party leader Sadanand Singh.

Thanking the party high command for entrusting him with the responsibility, Jha, a sitting member of the state legislative council, told reporters that he would try to take along everyone in the state unit riven by factional feuds.

Asked about two former state party presidents -- Ashok Choudhary and Mehboob Ali Kaisar -- joining other parties in the recent past, Jha, whose father Nagendra Jha was a veteran Congress leader himself, said, "We are Congressmen for life."