Newly appointed Jharkhand affairs in-charge of the Congress Avinash Pande has stressed on improving coordination and communication between the alliance partners for smooth running of the JMM-Congress-RJD combine in the state.

Pande, on his maiden visit to the state since Friday, told the media on Monday that he had held extensive meetings with party leaders and that all was well in the state unit of the Congress.

He also chaired a function to welcome back two former state party presidents—Sukhdeo Bhagat and Pradeep Balmuchu—at the state Congress office around noon. Both had left the Congress just before the 2019 polls. Bhagat joined BJP to contest the Assembly polls from Lohardaga and Balmuchu embraced AJSU-P to fight from Ghashila. Both lost miserably.

“All our MLAs are untied. So are our cadres and workers. The common concern everyone has in the party is that we came to power after a long time in this state and we must use this opportunity to fulfill our mandate and promises made to the voters. We will soon begin work in that regard,” he said later amid reports that the state unit has been battling infighting.

Pande, who was named Jharkhand minder after his predecessor R.P. Singh joined the BJP last week, said that to improve the functioning within the party and the government, the communication system had to be strengthened.

“Issues occur when communication fails. Therefore, we will start afresh to first work on a common minimum programme so that all the alliance partners can work properly to pursue the poll manifesto. Also, it is important to improve coordination and communication with alliance partners,” he said.