The RJD, a member of the ruling coalition, expressed discontent with the “unilateral” announcement of seat sharing by the JMM-Congress on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, chief minister Hemant Soren, who is also the executive president of the JMM, after a meeting with Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Congress Jharkhand in-charge Ghulam Ahmed Mir announced that the Congress and the JMM will contest in 70 out of the total 81 Assembly seats in Jharkhand in the two-phase Assembly polls scheduled on November 13 and 20.
Votes will be counted on November 23.
Soren also announced that the remaining 11 seats will be shared between the RJD and Left parties who will be joining the ruling coalition for the first time.
According to Congress insiders, the 11 seats reserved for the RJD and Left parties are for the segments where they have a strong presence. The leaders believe that this collaborative effort will consolidate voter support and establish a robust Opposition front.
RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha, while speaking to reporters in Ranchi, said that the way the JMM and the Congress unilaterally decided on the alliance is not right. According to Jha, despite Tejashwi Yadav being present in Ranchi, he was not informed about the announcement to be made.
“The Congress and the JMM unilaterally announced an alliance on 70 seats giving us only five seats, whereas in 2019 our candidates remained at number two on five seats,” Jha said. “We are capable of contesting alone on more than a dozen seats in Jharkhand and defeat the BJP. All options are open before us,” he added.
BJP releases first list
The BJP released its first list of 66 candidates for the Jharkhand Assembly polls on Saturday evening. The biggest surprise came from Jamshedpur East, where former chief minister and present Odisha governor Raghubar Das proved to his detractors in the BJP that he still holds a considerable influence in the party’s central command. This was evident with the announcement of his daughter-in-law, Purnima Das Sahu, wife of Lalit Das who was in the news for assault and intimidation of staff at the Odisha governor’s house earlier this year.
JMM patriarch Shibu Soren’s eldest daughter-in-law Sita Soren who defected from the JMM to the BJP prior to the Lok Sabha elections this year but lost from Dumka has been given a ticket by the party from Jamtara. BJP state president Babulal Marandi has been fielded from Dhanwar.
Former chief minister Champai Soren who defected to the BJP has been given a ticket from his home constituency Seraikela. Former Union minister and former chief minister Arjun Munda’s wife Meera Munda will make her political debut from Potka (ST) seat.
