Sita pens open letter to Shibu, bristles at ‘internal conspiracy’

Ranchi/Dumka: After JMM’s Jama MLA Sita Murmu (Soren) penned an open letter to party chief Shibu Soren and accused a senior party functionary of conspiring against her, though the party dubbed it as an “internal matter” and refrained from issuing a statement, BJP cashed in on the feud and said, “it seems all is not right within the party”.
Sita, wife of Guruji’s late elder son Durga, posted on Twitter an open letter addressed to Shibu late on Thursday night in which she accused JMM general secretary Vinod Pandey of expelling party workers who met her at a meeting in Chatra a few days ago.
Recalling her recent visit to Chatra to attend a meeting called by families displaced by Central Coalfields Limited’s Amrapali open cast coal project, Sita wrote, “Under Pandey’s instructions, JMM’s Chatra district president Pankaj Kumar Prajapati had issued a diktat asking party workers not to meet me. After this, all those who meet me were charged with conspiracy and expelled.”
The three-time Jama legislator also accused Pandey of usurping JMM’s headquarters by registering the property in his name and claimed that a few within the party are working to make the outfit their pocket organization. “The party is created by Guruji and my husband with thier blood, sweat and hard work, but a few people are working to make it their pocket organization. As a central committee member myself, I urge the party and Guruji to take cognizance of the matter,” she wrote.
JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said, “It is an internal matter of the party and will be resolved soon.”
Over the past few weeks, Sita has been a critic of the Hemant Soren government’s stand on different issues. From raising concerns over poor road conditions in Santhal Pargana to rallying behind JPSC aspirants, Sita has raised eyebrows with her posturing out of the party lines on multiple occasions.
Cashing in on the internal feud, BJP’s state spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said, “A senior legislator like her is raising so many issues, but the government is not paying heed. It seems that all is not well within the JMM.”
Vijayshree and Rajshree, Sita’s daughters, expressed their angst on social media. “I am pained to see that no action has been taken so far after the letter was written by my mother, who is a senior MLA of JMM. Does this silence have another meaning?” Rajshree wrote on Twitter on Friday.
When contacted on Friday, Pandey issued a measured statement on Sita’s letter. “She has labelled a few allegations against me in a letter to the party chief. Though her letter is doing the rounds on social media, it has not arrived at the party’s headquarters (in Bariatu) yet.
Since the president is outside the state on medical grounds, I have explained my point to the party’s working president (Hemant Soren). He will take a call on the matter after going through all the aspects,” Pandey said.