NEW DELHI, Feb 5 – Rifts have surfaced in the ruling Congress party in Assam, with a section of leaders lodging complaints with the party high command against a section of senior leaders alleging their involvement with SULFA men in running coal syndicates. With the uncertainty over the next expansion lingering and three Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant, restless Congressmen have begun to mount campaigns against one another, so much so that at least two delegations of Congressmen in the recent past have met the AICC president, Sonia Gandhi, to complaint about the alleged nexus between Congressmen and SULFA.
A senior Congressman who was part of such a delegation, requesting anonymity told this newspaper that it was pointed out to the AICC president, that the free hand given by the Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi to the minister concerned might boomerang on the Congress party in future. “Already our image has been tarnished by a flurry of reports in the media about involvement of a section of Congress leaders with the SULFA men,” he said. Sonia Gandhi, it seemed, the leader said, was seized of the matter and has assured to look into the allegations. Sources said they have underlined the need to mount a crackdown on the coal syndicate business after elections to the four States are over. The leader alleged that at least two of the senior ministers including a Cabinet ranking State minister were hand-in-glove with the SULFA group, currently running the syndicate. He said one of them had even made tall claims about dismantling illegal check gates only to replace them with new sets of check gates. The reality is that one group of SULFA men who was favoured by the previous AGP regime has been replaced by another, beyond that nothing has happened to curb the illegal business, he alleged.
At least Rs 30 crore is estimated to be generated every month from the syndicate business out of which the Government does receive any revenue worth its name. He alleged that a nexus has developed with Youth Congress leaders, top bureaucrats and police officers receiving a cut. Interestingly, although existence of coal mafia in Assam is not new news, the timing of Congressmen knocking on the doors of the party high command is significant. A section of the disgruntled MLAs are reported to be peeved at some senior ministers for what they claimed was their opposition to the expansion because of fears of loosing some of their plump portfolios. Further elections to the three Rajya Sabha seats are likely to be announced in March. And in a bid to outdo each other, Congressmen have begun lobbying and in the process have started painting each other black. Yet another group including a section of party MPs have been making quiet moves to have a new State Congress president appointed, in an obvious bid to keep Sri Gogoi under pressure.