The Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee on Monday (April 21, 2025) suspended Buxar district president Manoj Kumar Pandey for negligence in the discharge of duties at a rally addressed by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday.
Mr. Kharge addressed the ‘Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan’ rally at Dalsagar stadium in Buxar with a far poor turnout than expected, and a video of empty chairs at the event went viral on social media.
Mr. Pandey had claimed that more than 30,000 people would gather for the event, and had arranged about 10,000 chairs. However, when Mr. Kharge reached the stage, thousands of chairs remained empty.
A senior State Congress leader present on the stage on condition of anonymity said that Mr. Kharge had been “very disappointed” by the thin crowd, with the Bihar Assembly election a few months away.
Attendance was low due to the scorching head, Buxar Sadar MLA Sanjay Tiwari told media persons. A local leader attributed it to the wedding season.
Bihar Congress media in-charge Rajesh Rathore told journalists that Mr. Pandey had been suspended with immediate effect “due to negligence in discharging the responsibilities given to him” and “lack of coordination with the State leadership”. A letter issued by Umesh Prasad Singh, office secretary, said Mr. Pandey had been relieved of all posts in the party.
A copy of the letter has been sent to Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal, the party’s Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru, State Congress chief Rajesh Kumar, legislative party leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan, and the party’s leader in the Bihar Legislative Council Madan Mohan Jha.
Several attempts to reach Mr. Pandey proved futile.
RJD spokespersons
Meanwhile, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad on Monday appointed eight new national spokespersons for the party, all of whom are Professors in various universities, including Shyam Kumar, Rajkumar Rajan and Ravi Shankar of Delhi University; Badshah Alam of Jamia Millia Islamia; Utpal Ballabh of Patna University; Rakesh Ranjan of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur; Anuj Kumar Tarun of Magadh University; and Dinesh Pal of Jai Prakash University. The notification was issued by the party’s national principal general secretary Abdul Bari Siddiqui.
Published – April 21, 2025 08:35 pm IST
