Ajoy Kumar, Former Jharkhand Congress Chief, Joins Aam Aadmi Party

Former Jharkhand Congress chief Ajoy Kumar joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday. Kumar, a former Lok Sabha MP from Jamsedhpur, was removed from the post of Jharkhand Congress chief about three weeks ago. Kumar was replaced by former union minister and tribal leader Rameshwar Oraon on August 26. Jharkhand in expected to go to polls in November or December.

Incidently, Oraon and Kumar are both former Indian Police Service (IPS) officers. 

Ajoy Kumar joined the Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday in the presence of Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and other AAP leaders.  

After resigning the post, Kumar had levelled serious allegations against his senior party colleagues. He had accused them of placing “personal interests” above the party and “indulging in corrupt” practices.  Kumar was appointed the Jharkhand Congress chief in November 2017.

Jharkhand Pradesh Congress chief Ajoy Kumar quit his post on Friday, accusing some colleagues of indulging in corrupt practices and promoting their own interests over the party's and said "worst criminals look better" than them.

In his three-page resignation letter addressed to Rahul Gandhi, blamed some state party leaders, including former Union minister Subodh Kant Sahai, for his decision to resign from the post. He also mentioned Rameshwar Oraon, former MPs - Chandrashekar Dubey and Furqan Ansari - and ex-PCC president Pradeep Balmuchu, and accused them of trying to "grab political posts for personal benefits and have made every attempt to bypass the system that have been put in place for the benefit of the party".

"My zero tolerance for corruption and any form of mediocrity, hampers me from doing my job effectively. Accordingly, please accept this as my formal letter of resignation as the president of the Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee," Kumar said.

"I only wish that the Congress party could go back to its original roots and raise the issues that are critically important for the people. It's vital that we have good people in both the opposition and the government. Instead, what are we have now is a long list of rent-seekers. Their only intention is to grab power, sell tickets or collect money in the name of elections. As a proud Indian and one of the youngest winners of the police gallantry award and having wiped the mafia in Jamshedpur, I can confidently say that the worst criminals look better than some of my colleagues," he said in the letter.

Kumar had tendered resignation in May taking responsibility to the partys debacle in the Lok Sabha seat in the state. His resignation was rejected then.

BJP-AJSU alliance had swept the Lok Sabha Polls in Jharkhand, winning 12 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats while the Congress and the JMM bagged one each.