Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren with Congress in-charge of Jharkhand Ghulam Ahmad Mir, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and other leaders during a meeting ahead of Jharkhand Assembly polls, in Ranchi , Jharkhand, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The I.N.D.I.A. bloc in Jharkhand is staring at a collapse after Chief Minister Hemant Soren's announcement that the Congress and JMM are contesting in 70 seats, leaving 11 for its allies. This prompted an angry response from RJD, which said, “all options are open” following Congress-JMM's "unilateral" decision.
CPI(ML)L, which fought 14 seats and won 1 with a vote share of 1.15 per cent in 2019, added more fire to the discomfiture of alliance leaders, with party sources warning that they would be forced to walk out of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc if they are not allotted at least 7 seats even though they have shared a wish list of 12 seats. CPI(ML)L was not part of the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance in 2019.
With nominations for the first phase of polling across 43 seats ending on October 25 and that for the second phase ending on October 29, the parties are engaged in hectic negotiations. I.N.D.I.A. allies claim that the 70-11 formula was decided by JMM and Congress alone, without consulting others.
Soren told reporters in Ranchi that the I.N.D.I.A. bloc will contest the Jharkhand assembly elections together and it has been decided that the Congress and the JMM will field candidates in 70 of 81 seats while other allies will fight the remaining 11.
However, the announcement by Soren did not go down well with the RJD with its senior Rajya Sabha MP Manoj K Jha commenting that a "unilateral decision" has been taken. RJD fought 7 seats and won just 1 with a 2.75 per cent vote share in the 2019 elections.
"All decisions cannot be taken instantly like 'two-minutes' noodles... We express our disappointment over the offer of seats to us. The decision is unilateral... We were not consulted. All options are open to us," Jha said in Ranchi where RJD leaders held a meeting.
He said that in 2019, they fought only 7 seats as part of the alliance because party patriarch Lalu Prasad “had a big heart” and his goal was to keep the BJP out. “The goal remains the same even today. We were runner-up in five seats. The rest of our alliance partners may not have been runners-up in percentage terms on that many seats,” he said.
Jha claimed that RJD's presence in districts is “very strong” and the alliance partners should take that into consideration. He said that that all their office bearers are in Ranchi and if alliance leaders do not involve them in the process, then it is painful.
He said at a meeting on Saturday that RJD has identified 15 to 18 such seats in different districts where they are "capable of defeating the BJP, even alone".
Congress sought to downplay the demands by allies with its Media and Publicity Department chairman Pawan Khera saying,"there is no resentment or displeasure."
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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