Police looking for severed head of toddler in Jharkhand

Source: deccanherald.com

Jharkhand police on Thursday said they were still looking for the severed head of a three-year-old girl allegedly raped and beheaded by two men in Tatanagar last week.

The torso was found in a plastic bag in a bush under Telco police station area, around 4 km from the Tatanagar railway station, on Tuesday night, they said.

Sniffer dogs have been searching the area to locate the head.

The girl was abducted from the railway station on Friday night when she was sleeping with her mother and her male companion.

Three persons, including the male companion, have been arrested in connection with the gruesome rape-murder case.

The girl’s mother had eloped with with the man and her child from Purulia district of West Bengal and they were staying on the station platform that night.

The woman had lodged a police complaint, saying she suspected that the man could be behind the killing of her daughter. His role is being investigated. 

Superintendent of Police (Railways) Ehtesham Waquarib said the other two accused were arrested after the CCTV camera footage of the platform was scanned.

The SP said the two, in their 30s, confessed they beheaded the little girl after raping and strangulating her to death.

On the basis of the lead provided by them, police recovered the torso but the head was not found.

The SP said the two accused were sent to 14-day judicial custody on Wednesday.

Class IX boy shot at coaching centre, 13-yr-old stabbed to death

Source: hindustantimes.com

A 13-year-old class IX student of Patna’s reputed St Dominik  High School was shot dead at a coaching centre in Danapur by a fellow student on Thursday evening while a class VII student of a government school in Muzaffarpur was stabbed to deaths by a group of teenagers earlier in the day.

In the first incident in the busy Bibiganj locality under Danapur police station limits, the victim, resident of nearby Nasriganj locality, died on the spot.

As panic-stricken students began fleeing from the classroom, the coaching institute teachers identified the shooter and nabbed him. A 9 mm pistol has been recovered from the school bag of the accused, whose identify has been withheld as he is also a minor. He was handed over to the police, which reached the spot and sent the victim’s body for autopsy.

The Bibiganj locality in Danapur is a hub of coaching institutes. As the news spread, all coaching institutes downed shutters and asked the students to rush back to their homes.

Danapur ASP Ashok Mishra said that a loaded pistol had been recovered from the accused.

In the second incident, four teenagers, brandishing knives and other sharp-edged weapons, barged into a government middle school in Muzaffarpur district  and stabbed to death a 13-year-old student in the presence of teachers and other students before escaping.

The incident occurred in the afternoon at the Bada Jagannath Middle School under Ahiyapur police station

The victim was son of a labourer. 

After the incident, residents of the village went on a rampage, damaging the school property.

Deputy SP (Town) Mukul Kumar Ranjan rushed to the spot after learning about the incident. However, by then, most of the students and teachers had fled to their homes out of fear.

The police, quoting eye-witnesses, said the armed teenagers barged into the school premises and called the victim out of the classroom on the pretext of some work. The moment the victim came out, they kept stabbing him in his abdomen till he collapsed and fell down. “The victim kept crying for help, but nobody came to his rescue,” the DSP said.

The teachers came out only after they realised that the killers had fled, he said. 

Soon, some locals arrived at the scene and rushed the boy to Sri Krishna Medical College Hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.

Police suspect the student’s murder could be linked to an attempt to rob the victim’s mother on Wednesday. According to the police, a teenager from Ahiyapur had attempted to snatch money bag of the victim’s mother on Wednesday afternoon but was caught by locals, who brutally trashed him. The victim had also kicked the teenager, who could have planned his murder to avenge the assault. The DSP said the attackers had been identified and would be arrested soon.

Student caught with pistol at school 

Authorities of Begusarai’s Rajoura Middle School on Thursday nabbed a class VIII student who had come to school with a country-made pistol and handed him over to police.

Police had summoned the student’s parents and were interrogating them by the time of filing of this report.

Ranchi man suffering from blood cancer gets a new lease of life

Source: avenuemail.in

Ranchi, July 31: Doctors at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram successfully treated a 60-year-old patient Lal Mani Mahto of Ranchi who was suffering from Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (CMML) which is a type of Blood Cancer with no definitive medicines available. The patient was presented to Fortis Gurugram with the complaints od fever, low hemoglobin, weight loss and low platelets. The patient underwent successful Bone Marrow Transplant performed by Dr. Rahul Bhargav, Director, Haematology and BMT, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram and his team.

Lal Mani Mahto was presented to the hospital with the diagnosis of advanced Blood Cancer. He was given chemotherapy for the advance stage of cancer. Mahto started losing weight drastically. The reason for same was unknown, on consulting a doctor in Ranchi, it was revealed that he was losing blood but the reason for same could not be traced. The patient was given Folic Acid to control the level of blood, but the patient’s condition started deteriorating. He soon had to start the process of Blood Transfusion in every 20 days.  After taking consultation from several doctors in Ranchi, the patient was diagnosed with Blood Cancer. The only permanent solution for same was to get a Bone Marrow Transplant. The patient was presented before Dr. Rahul Bhargava who performed the surgery successfully.

Dr. Rahul Bhargava, Director, Haematology and Bone Marrow Transplant, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram said, “Diagnosis of blood cancer is difficult, secondly, once the diagnosis is done there is no clear-cut medicine BMT is the only thing. Ion the process of BMT, RBC, WBC and platelets are Eradicated from the body. The patient is like a new born baby and is susceptible to infections. Stabilising the patient in such a condition is a challenge. Stem Cells from a different body are transferred to the patient’s body and acceptance of same is essentials for a successful transplant. However, when it comes to the donor, there is no risk involved at all. The donor just donates 300 ml of a blood stem cells and there is noting to be scared. The patient was very lucky as ideally the donors match is 30 %, but in this case the sister and Brother matched 100 %. The donor was discharged the very next day of donation. The patient has successfully been discharged from the hospital and is now leading a normal life”

Patient Mr. Arun Kumar said, “When I came to Fortis I had very little hope left in me.  I had to undergo blood transfusion in every 20 days. My family was seeing me getting weak day by day and I could not do anything about it. When Dr. Bharagava gave me hope that after the BMT I could resume my life like before, I thought it was miracle. My younger sisters stem cell matched and saved my life. While I was in ICU, I was very critical and my family was starting to lose faith. It is through persistent treatment I received from Dr. Rahul Bhargava  at Fortis Gurugram that I am healthy today and doing my normal day to day activities with ease.”

Dr.Ritu Garg, Zonal Director, FMRIsaid, “This was one of the most challenging case presented to the hospital as patient was brought with an advanced stage of Blood Cancer which is very rare. There were many complicationsand stabilising patient after the surgery was a big achievement. The patient’s situation could have been life threatening, however these were successfully avoided due to the diligence with which the case was handled. FMRI is equipped to handle such complications with the help of comprehensive team o handle all Blood Disorders and advanced technology. This case shows we are equipped to handle all the challenges from different specialities.”

Human organs available in India like peanuts: YSRCP MP

Source: newkerala.com

New Delhi , July 31 : A Rajya Sabha MP on Wednesday raised concerns over the availability of human organs like peanuts and urged the government to penalize those involved in such rackets with death penalty.

“Despite successive governments’ efforts to stop illegal organ trade, India has become one of the biggest countries for organ trade, as also the cheapest too, in the world. It is available like peanuts,” YSRCP’s Prabhakar Reddy said in Rajya Sabha during Zero Hour.

He said the organs like kidney, liver and heart are easily available and the government should take it seriously so that it could be stopped.

“Otherwise, amend the legislation in such a way that whoever is involved in this, including doctors, the middle-men and the hospital staff. It needs severe penalties which goes up to the death penalty be imposed on those involved in these rackets. I hope that the government would amend the legislation in such a way that it is stopped,” he said.

BJP’s Gopal Narayan Singh demanded that the name of Bakhtiyarpur railway station should be changed to either Rajgir or Nalanda, as it was named after Bakhtiyar Khilji, who was an invader and destroyer.

“It’s a blot on Bihar. It should be removed,” Singh said.

Bakhtiyarpur station connects Bihar’s historical places like Nalanda, Rajgir, Pavapuri and Biharsharif. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was born in Bakhtiyarpur.

Trinamool Congress’ Manas Ranjan Bhunia urged the central government to reduce the percentage of disability from 80 per cent to 50 per cent and provide all possible help, including financial help to physically challenged and handicapped male and female.

“They need active support of the central and state governments. At present, the standing rules and directions are that if any physically challenged person does not have 80 per cent of incapability, then such a person would not get any help from the central government. This has created a serious situation when most of the physically challenged are not getting any support,” he said.

“This situation demands a serious look and thought by the central government to reduce the percentage of disability from 80 per cent to 50 per cent,” he said.

CPI-M’s E Kareem sought for recognizing person working in central government’s schemes as workers.

“More than one crore workers engaged in different schemes of the central government, such as Anganwadi, ASHA, SSA, Mid-Day Meal Scheme. Most of them are women and coming from very poor sections of society. They are getting a meagre remuneration in the name of honorarium.”

“There is a long pending demand to recognize them as workers. The 45th Session of the Indian Labour Conference had recommended to recognize them as workers and extend social security and other benefits and not to privatize this sector. But, this recommendation has not been implemented so far. The government should implement the recommendation of the 45th Indian Labour Conference,” he said. 

Conclave pitch in Jharkhand government tourism push

Source: telegraphindia.com

The state government is keen to organise tourism and Buddhist circuit conclaves to boost the tourism sector in Jharkhand.

Addressing the media here on Thursday, state art, culture and tourism minister Amar Kumar Bauri said: “Compared with Bihar, we started quite late in discovering and developing historical places related to Lord Buddha in Jharkhand. Itkhori in Chatra district is an important site that marks the last journey of Siddhartha Gautama before he became Buddha at Bodhgaya. Kauleshwari in Hazaribagh district is also an important Buddhist site being developed by us.”

Bauri, who is a post-graduate in history, said chief minister Raghubar Das was very keen on organising the conclaves in September.

The minister said the tourism sector in Jharkhand had witnessed phenomenal growth in the last four and a half years and would substantially contribute to the state GDP in the coming years.

“The development of roads, hotels, tourist spots and better law and order situation have led to a spurt in the tourist inflow,” Bauri said.

He said in 2018-19, a total of 3.54 crore domestic tourists and 1.76 crore foreign tourists visited Jharkhand.

The number of hotels having a minimum of 10 rooms have risen to 618 in the state from 359 in 2014-15, the minister said, adding that the tourism sector has generated around 74,000 jobs.

“The development of Patratu Dam is another milestone for us. The first phase of the work has been completed at a cost of Rs 60 crore. We have decided to inaugurate the tourist spots at Patratu in September,” the minister said.

He said the department had categorised 132 tourist spots under international, national, state and local categories on the basis of their popularity.

“Jharkhand was earlier known for all the wrong reasons, but tourism has changed the face of the state. Jharkhand is blessed with beautiful and historical places, but unfortunately their potential remained untapped before the Raghubar Das government,” Bauri said.

The minister informed that his department was working on a proposal to install a lift at Pahari temple.

“A proposal for the construction of a ropeway was mooted years back, but the project, which was found unfeasible, was abandoned at the planning stage. Now we are working on a proposal to install a lift and technical discussions have been initiated,” he said.

However, the minister admitted that the department’s efforts didn’t produce the desired outcome regarding two specific issues — roping in Archaeological Survey of India in 2015 to conduct research and survey in 24 districts and the formulation of Jharkhand Sports Policy.

“The survey by ASI could not be undertaken as we lacked trained manpower to assist them. The department provided funds to students and teachers of history in Bokaro district to conduct research at some historic sites, but their report was found unsatisfactory,” he said.

On Jharkhand Sports Policy, Bauri said he had recently prodded officials of the department on the issue. “I hope we will able implement the policy in our next tenure,” he said.

Bauri said Jharkhand State Sports Promotion Society started a talent hunt in 2016 to promote talented children.

So far, 5,48,700 kids took part in the drive and 448 were selected and being trained at the coaching centres.

“However, these coaching centres are meant for minor players. Now, we have decided to set up hostels for senior sportspersons in Ranchi and Dumka,” he added.

Flood-like situation in Gujarat claims 5 lives; Assam, Bihar return to normalcy

Source: indiatoday.in

ive persons were killed and over 5,000 were evacuated in Gujarat which was battered by nearly 500 mm of rain till Thursday morning, even as Assam and Bihar heaved a sigh of relief as the flood situation in the states improved considerably for the second consecutive day.

Water from the overflowing Vishwamitri river entered several localities in Gujarat’s Vadodara.

Four persons were killed in Bajwa area after a wall collapsed due to heavy rain. The body of an unknown man was recovered from Khodiyarnagar area Thursday, Vadodara district collector Shalini Agarwal told PTI.

According to figures provided by the state government, Vadodara received a staggering 499 mm of rainfall in 24 hours ending 8 am on Thursday.

Of this, 286 mm of rain fell in just four hours, between 4 pm to 8 pm on Wednesday, the release said.

Close to 9 million people are said to be affected by floods in Bihar till Thursday though the number of casualties remained unchanged, at 130, for the second consecutive day, according to the state disaster management department.

Torrential rainfall in Nepal in the second week of July, besides heavy showers in districts of Bihar situated on the border, had caused half a dozen rivers, including Bagmati, Kamla, Khiroi and Burhi Gandak to swell, which continue to be above danger level at many places.

Assam’s flood situation also improved considerably with the water level of all the major rivers and its tributaries receding and life was slowly returning to normal in the flood affected districts.

A population of 3,64,553 in 459 villages of 12 districts are currently affected by the floods, according to the flood bulletin of Assam State Disaster Management Agency (ASDMA).

The marooned districts are Dhemaji, Darrang, Barpeta, Biswanath, Sonitpur, Chirang, Kamrup, Morigaon, Nagaon, Golaghat, Jorhat and Charaideo.

There was no report of any fresh casualty and the death toll in the current wave of floods in the north eastern state stays at 86.

It was a hot and humid day in the national capital with the mercury settling at 36.9 degrees Celsius, three notches above the normal.

The minimum temperature settled at 27.8 degrees Celsius, a notch above normal, a Meteorological (MeT) Department official said.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD), said the monsoon is expected to be normal in August and September, in its forecast for the second half of the four-month rainfall season.

Mritunjay Mohapatra, Director General of IMD, said the next two weeks are expected to bring good rainfall due to formation of a low pressure area in the north Bay of Bengal.

Light to heavy rains lashed several places in Himachal Pradesh, while a yellow weather warning for heavy rains has been issued in the state for this weekend.

Una received the highest 76 mm rainfall in the state, followed by Amb (30 mm), Sundernagar (24 mm), Mandi (20 mm), Bhuntar (15 mm), Manali (12 mm), Shimla (7 mm), Dalhousie and Kufri (1 mm each).

The highest temperature in the state was recorded at 29.6 degrees Celsius in Nahan, while the lowest temperature was 14 degrees Celsius in Keylong, the official said.

The Shimla MeT centre has forecast rains in the state till August 7, and issued a yellow warning for August 3 and 4.

Downpour in parts of Kashmir brought down the temperature in the Valley, even as rain caused waterlogging in many regions.

Light rainfall started in the city around 7:30 am. The downpour got heavier as the day progressed, leading to waterlogging of roads in many areas of the city, including the commercial hub of Lal Chowk, officials added.

Breathless Bihar | India Today Insight

Source: indiatoday.in

Every morning, many of Patna’s school kids can be seen wearing a plastic mask as they board their school buses. By mid-morning, Bihar’s capital resembles a city in camouflage with thousands of motorcyclists riding around with colourful masks strapped to their faces.

“My eyes burn, throat itches and chest heaves. I feel breathless more often than not,” says beauty care professional Radha Paswan, 28. She leaves home at 9 am to be at her workplace by 10. “I rush to switch on the air-conditioner the moment I reach my workplace. It still takes a few minutes for me to start breathing normally,” she says.

Radha, however, is not alone in her sufferings. Bihar is increasingly getting breathless. The latest Bihar Economic Survey for 2018-19 confirms that Acute Respiratory Illness (ARI) accounts for 36.2% of total patients who visited hospitals last year.

No wonder, ARI is the most prevalent disease in Bihar. The Economic Survey, incidentally, is an exhaustive document annually released by the state finance department to map overall performance of various departments.

In terms of numbers, as many as 1.28 million ARI patients were registered in Bihar last year, which was 11% more than the number of patients suffering from fever of unknown origin, No. 2 in the pecking order of main diseases in Bihar.

The body’s respiratory system includes the nose, sinuses, mouth, throat (pharynx), voice box (larynx), windpipe (trachea), and lungs. Upper respiratory infections affect the parts of the respiratory tract that are higher on the body, including the nose, sinuses, and throat, while lower respiratory infections affect the airways and lungs.

“Types of upper respiratory infection include the common cold (head cold), flu, tonsillitis, laryngitis and sinus infection. It is the lower respiratory infections, though, which can be worrisome,” says Dr Ajay Kumar, vice president of Indian Medical Association, Bihar. “It can be caused by bronchitis, pneumonia, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), severe flu, or tuberculosis. Lower respiratory infection symptoms include a severe cough that may produce mucus (phlegm), shortness of breath, chest tightness, and wheezing when exhaling. Clearly, even minor respiratory issues can be debilitating for a person’s immune system and can lead to complications, if it is allowed to persist.”

“There are multiple reasons for the respiratory issues: pollution from vehicles, garbage burning, road and construction dust, followed by brick kilns they all contribute to it,” he adds.

A comparative study of the figures point towards a very disturbing trend. The number of ARI patients in Bihar has gone up from 690,000 in 2016-17 to 1.28 million in 2017-18, an increase of 290,000 respiratory patients in just one year. “What is, however, more worrisome is the fact that ARI has been at the top of the table of Bihar’s main diseases year after year. We need to do a deeper study to understand the cause and eliminate it,” says a senior health department official.

Dr Ragini Mishra, surveillance officer at the Bihar Health Society, a state government body, explains that ARI numbers have always been high because it also includes cases of common cold. The State Health Society, however, will soon collect a database of patients suffering from pulmonary and other respiratory disorders. Once done, this will be compared to the air quality index to establish what could have caused the disease.

A deeper scrutiny of the figure of ARI patients in Bihar, however, suggests that the usual suspect, air pollution by vehicular traffic, is not the only culprit. In fact, an assessment of patients has confirmed that districts with fewer vehicles have higher number of patients suffering from respiratory illness.

For instance, the district of Vaishali, which annually registers not even 25% of the number of vehicles registered in Patna, reports four times more respiratory cases than those registered in the capital.

Incidentally, of the 1,283,860 patients of Acute Respiratory infection reported in the state last year, Vaishali alone accounted for 126,104 cases. Siwan (94,013), Jamui (90,885), Khgaria (80,212), Purnea (65,254) and Bhojpur (65,027) are the other districts where respiratory illness cases have touched alarming numbers. On the other hand, Patna, said to be the most polluted city with maximum population density in Bihar, had just 20,083 cases of respiratory illness reported last year.

Vaishali, however, does have a higher population share per sq.km. Vaishali is No. 4 in most densely populated districts in the state, with 1,717 persons per sq.km as against the state’s average of 1,106.

“The cause of these alarming numbers, however, is not just the dreaded pollution caused by vehicle fumes,” says Dr Ajay Kumar, vice-president of the Indian Medical Association in Bihar.

“The toxic air that we breathe is the new tobacco. Add to this the unhygienic conditions in Bihar’s rural outback, prevalence of dust and lack of awareness and you have a recipe for disaster,” Dr Kumar adds.

Incidentally, toxic air is already a global menace killing seven million people each year, according to last year’s United Nations Environment Programme report. A majority of these deaths have been reported from the Asia-Pacific region.

Muzaffarpur-based senior pediatrician Dr Arun Shah told India Today that high population density, increasing urban slums and poor sensitivity to health awareness are the major reasons for respiratory diseases. “Remember, viral infection spreads like wildfire. Proactive prevention and timely treatment are just a few ways to win over respiratory illness,” he says.

There are grave threats. Long-term exposure to lung irritants and toxins in the air can cause Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) which, according to University of Washington’s Global Burden of Disease study, 2018, was the second highest cause of deaths in India after heart disease in 2017, killing almost 1 million (958,000 to be exact) Indians that year.

COPD inflames airways in the lungs and destroys the air sacs which extract oxygen from the air and expel waste, including carbon dioxide. Patients often cough, wheeze and are short of breath.

In the developed world, a majority of COPD cases are caused by smoking tobacco, but in the developing world, including India, most COPD cases are caused by exposure to indoor and outdoor air pollution, particularly burning biomass, from wood to cow dung.

This could well be the case in Bihar too where a village woman cooks over a dung-fuelled chulha for several hours a day. She could be more exposed to hazardous pollutants than an office worker in Patna.

“The top priority should be to reduce household air pollution from cooking with biomass because the proximity to stove smoke, especially for women and children, makes it most harmful,” says Dr Shah.

But in Bihar’s outback, home to the poor population, people seem less inclined to change their way of life. Chewing tobacco is one of the habits which many in Bihar are unwilling to shun. Researchers have linked smokeless tobacco products also to asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Tobacco users are more likely to suffer from wheezing and night-time chest tightness, chronic bronchitis and chronic nose and sinus problems. Time for Bihar to take note.

Cops called for Congress clash in Ranchi

Source: telegraphindia.com

Congress factions resorted to an ugly clash in front of the party office on Thursday afternoon, forcing police to use force and detain a few leaders, indicating a growing belligerence among party men eager to ascribe blame for the poor showing in the Lok Sabha elections.

State party chief Ajoy Kumar, who arrived at the state party headquarters on Shradhanand road moments after the police managed to control the situation, addressed a gathering of loyalists and blamed a set of senior leaders for trying to “break the party”.

He did not mention names, but made it amply clear he was referring to former minister and Ranchi MP Subodh Kant Sahay, former state party chief Pradep K Balmuchu, former MPs Rameshwar Oraon and Furkan Ansari, all of whom have joined hands against him.

The Congress contested seven of 14 Lok Sabha seats in alliance with the JMM, JVM and RJD but could win only one.

By the end of the day, a senior Congress leader revealed that the party’s central leadership, already grappling with a leadership crisis, summoned all senior leaders of the state for a meeting in Delhi on August 3.

The leader also said that Jharkhand Congress minder R.P.N Singh called him from Delhi in the afternoon to find out what had happened.

The clash had its genesis in Wednesday night’s expulsion of former president of Ranchi district unit Surendra Kumar Singh and former state spokesperson Rakesh Sinha on disciplinary grounds for a period of six years.

Both leaders, considered to be Sahay loyalists, decided to hold a press conference at the party office at 2pm on Thursday. But around 50 supporters of the state party chief gathered at the party office early on with a plan to thwart the press conference.

At 1.45pm, both the expelled leaders, along with 250 of their supporters, arrived at the party office. They were jeered and pushed back by Kumar’s supporters, saying expelled leaders weren’t allowed to use the party office.

A clash ensued. Stones and missiles were hurled freely. Police, who seemed to have been informed earlier, were on standby with officer in-charge of Kotwali police station S.N. Mandal deploying as many as 22 personnel.

“Police used mild force to disperse the crowd. One photojournalist was hit by stone and injured. Surendra Kumar Singh and Sinha were kept under preventing arrest for around two hours after which they were released. No FIR has been lodged,” Mandal said.

Before they were taken into custody, Surendra Kumar Singh and Sinha addressed the media, calling Kumar “incompetent and arrogant” for wanting to run the party like a “dictator”.

“Kumar will be remembered as the worst (state) president of the party. The downfall of the Congress in Jharkhand and expulsion of committed party leaders and workers are some of his notable achievements. He has set a record of expelling over 100 leaders and workers during his tenure. We have lost committed workers like Ajay Rai and Sunil Singh, whom he has expelled,” said Sinha.

Three days earlier, Kumar had expelled Sudhir Singh, Yogendra Singh Beni, Ashutosh Nath Pathak, Manish Kumar Singh, Tinku Verma and Krishna Verma after they burnt his effigy and shouted slogans against him.

In May, Kumar expelled a dozen leaders and workers of the Hazaribagh district unit. Several others were expelled from Ramgarh, Giridih and other district units.

“Our expulsion is blatant violation of the party constitution. As per rules, a showcause notice has to be issued, and a reply has to be given within two weeks. An expulsion is subject to approval of the working committee. In our case, no procedure was followed,” Surendra Kumar Singh alleged.

In his address to party men, Kumar, who was accorded a welcome with garlands, thanked his supporters and went on fire a volley of accusations against senior leaders. Kumar said that like others, he too was sad over the performance of the party in the Lok Sabha elections.

“We won one seat and lost two others with a narrow margin. This is not a battle for posts and power. There are some people who want to take control over the ticket distribution exercise for Assembly elections. They want to grab the entire party. I have dedicated my life to serve the people of Jharkhand. As a police officer, I was wounded by the bullet fired by criminals. What kind of language they have been using? I too can collect 50 men at a time,” he said.

Kumar said there were leaders who wanted tickets for themselves and their children.

“Those who were defeated in the parliamentary election will not take responsibility of their defeat. For the coming Assembly elections, tickets will be given to new faces, the young and the energetic,” he said.

Congress Lohardaga MLA Sukhdeo Bhagat said the party had become a laughing stock in the state. “Jab nash manuj par chhata hai pahle vivek mar jata hai. (When the end is near, wisdom dies first),” he said.