Rafale cut-out
Grabbing eyeballs in Khunti on Tuesday itself was Congress candidate Kalicharan Munda who filed nomination in a unique fashion. His supporters and JMM workers, all under the Opposition grand alliance, carried cut-outs of the Rafale fighter plane and kept sloganeering against PM Narendra Modi.
Ranchi troika
In Ranchi, all three main contenders for the prestigious seat Sanjay Seth (BJP), Ram Tahal Choudhary (Independent) and Subodh Kant Sahay (Congress) held rallies, big and small, before filing their poll papers at the district collectorate.
Sahay, the first to file his nomination, held a rally before a crowd of 2,000 at Harmu grounds, where state Congress president Ajoy Kumar and JVM central secretary Bandhu Tirkey were with him.
Choudhary filed his nomination after Sahay. Prior to his nominations, Kurmi strongman Choudhary carried a yellow flag and held a rally at Morabadi grounds with 900 to 1,000 people. He was accompanied by his son Randheer who resigned from the BJP on Monday.
The BJP organised a massive show of strength at Morabadi grounds with 15,000 workers and leaders of the BJP, Ajsu Party and JDU, before Seth filed his papers.
Seth along with CM, state urban minister C.P. Singh, Ajsu Party chief Sudesh Mahto and others arrived at the district collectorate at 2.45pm. Das and other BJP leaders had a chance encounter with Choudhary while entering the nomination room. CM Das and C.P. Singh greeted their long-time former party colleague.
Bidyut rally
Jamshedpur MP and BJP nominee Bidyut Baran Mahto on Tuesday said a 1km rally would start on April 20, from the grounds near Motilal Nehru Public School, Northern Town, before he filed his nomination.
At least half a dozen political heavyweights filed their nomination papers on Tuesday, including former chief minister Arjun Munda from Khunti parliamentary seat, as well as three main challengers from Ranchi, Sanjay Seth of the BJP, former Union minister Subodh Kant Sahay of the Congress and BJP veteran MP-turned-rebel Independent contestant Ram Tahal Choudhary.
On a day marked by high-decibel sound bytes, former Jharkhand RJD president-turned-BJP member Annapurna Devi also filed her nomination for Koderma Parliamentary seat in Giridih where CM Raghubar Das, to help amp up her campaign, addressed a rally of around 7,000 at Jhanda grounds right before she filed her papers.
Other than Das, state education minister and Koderma MLA Neera Yadav, party MLAs Nirbhay Kumar Shahabadi and Jai Prakash Verma were present at the rally.
The CM also paid tributes to CRPF martyr Biswajit Chowhan at Jhanda grounds.
After Giridih, CM Das went to Khunti where his rumoured arch-rival in the BJP, Arjun Munda, filed his nominations. A 3km road rally was organised by the party from DAV School grounds to Khunti district collectorate office where a pulsating crowd of 20,000 joined the rally.
Sitting Khunti MP Karia Munda was on the forefront of the procession along with Das, state BJP in-charge Mangal Pandey, state minister Neelkanth Singh Munda, Jamshedpur MP Bidyut Baran Mahto and others. Ajsu Party president Sudesh Mahto too arrived when Arjun Munda filed nomination papers.
Karia entertains
Unlike his Ranchi counterpart Ram Tahal Choudhary, who after being denied a BJP ticket on age grounds, filed his papers as an Independent to “teach the party a lesson”, octogenarian Khunti MP Karia Munda graciously supported BJP nominee Arjun Munda, asking the crowd to bless his successor with votes. Karia Munda entertained the crowd with his barbs at Opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati. Calling Congress president Rahul “clueless”, the veteran parliamentarian alleged that Rahul said the funds for his minimum guarantee scheme would “come from P. Chidambaram (former finance minister of UPA)”.
The Telegraph
