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| Conrad |
New Delhi, June 14 : The Nationalist Congress Party today removed Purno A. Sangma’s son Conrad from the post of youth wing president without informing him, in a direct slight to a family seen as cosying up to the Congress.
Sharad Pawar’s party today replaced Conrad with Rajeev Jha, a young Bihar leader who had been the working president of the youth wing.
The NCP officially cited Conrad’s increased workload after being appointed leader of the Opposition in the Meghalaya Assembly as the reason for replacing him.
But Conrad said he was surprised by the move that comes just eight days after his father, once Sonia Gandhi’s loudest critic, apologised to the Congress chief, embarrassing the NCP.
“I have not been informed about the move to replace me. I am surprised that I am hearing this from you,” Conrad told this correspondent today.
Sangma, a former Speaker of the Lok Sabha, formed the NCP along with party chief Pawar and Tariq Anwar in 1999 after their expulsion from the Congress for opposing Sonia’s leadership.
The NCP was formed over their disagreement with the Congress on allowing an individual of foreign origin to hold the top post in the Congress.
Sangma briefly left the NCP to join Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress in 2004 after Pawar and Sonia decided to fight the 2004 Lok Sabha elections together.
He subsequently rejoined the NCP but remained a staunch critic of Sonia and, earlier this year, openly worked to build an alliance with her party’s chief national opponent, the BJP, in Meghalaya.
But Manmohan Singh’s decision to induct Sangma’s daughter Agatha into his council of ministers may have softened him
On June 5, Sangma and his daughter visited Sonia to invite her to Conrad’s wedding.
Sangma then apologised for opposing her leadership, triggering speculation that he may be close to joining the Congress and that the NCP may also merge with the parent party.
Although Sangma and the NCP have denied returning to their parent party, the apology embarrassed the party, leaders admitted privately.