State Congress president Ajoy Kumar expelled six party workers on Monday for six years for trying to prevent him from chairing a meeting and then holding a demonstration near the party office.

The expelled leaders, mandal presidents Sudhir Singh, Tinku Verma, Ashutosh Nath Pathak and Yogendra Singh Beni, Manish Kumar Singh, and Krishna Verma, and a few of their supporters, later burnt an effigy of Kumar and shouted slogans against him.

Kumar said the protest was engineered by vested interests, but did not name anyone.

“It was a sponsored protest involving a bunch of people whose intentions can be ascertained by knowing their background. The entire party is with me, and we are committed to winning the Assembly elections,” he said, hinting that a section of ticket-seekers were behind the protests.

“There are some people who want Assembly tickets. But we will project new and energetic faces in the coming Assembly election,” he added.

Expelled leader Sudhir Singh alleged that the state Congress had suffered under the leadership of Kumar.

“He runs the party like a dictator and expels anyone who criticises him. He has already tendered his resignation as state party president and doesn’t have the moral and legal right to hold any meeting,” Singh said, referring to Monday’s meeting held to discuss seat sharing among Opposition partners in the run-up to a meeting of the Mahagatbandhan in the first week of August.

According to some of those who attended the meeting, most of the leaders favoured a tie-up with the JMM and Left parties, but not the RJD and the JVM. “We are not keen on RJD and JVM in the alliance. Politically and organisationally, both parties are defunct in Jharkhand. They are more of a burden,” said a senior party leader.