The simmering discontent among Jharkhand ruling alliance partners JMM and the Congress was evident during the filing of nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls.
JMM women wing leader and well known writer Mahua Maji filed her nomination at the state Assembly late in the afternoon accompanied by chief minister and party executive president Hemant Soren and almost all the party MLAs along with the lone RJD MLA and labour minister Satyanand Bhokta. However, there was not a single Congress leader, MLA or cabinet minister present during the nomination filing.
The mood of the Congress camp was echoed by Barkakhana MLA Amba Prasad who admitted that Congress leaders were dismayed at the JMM’s decision to field its own candidate.
“The discussion which took place with our leader Sonia Gandhi at Delhi and chief minister Hemant Soren in Delhi and the announcement made in Ranchi on Monday are distinctly different. We Congress followed the coalition dharma and had expected the JMM to do the same and are dismayed at the turn of events. However, we feel that in future the JMM would shoulder its responsibility in alliance in a better manner for the larger interest of the state and mandate given by the people in 2019 election,” said Amba Prasad.
AICC general secretary in-charge Jharkhand, Avinash Pande who had arrived in Ranchi on Tuesday and held meetings with party MLAs individually, however, refused to speak much on the discontentment. “We did not field a candidate for the Rajya Sabha as we did not have the numbers. JMM had the numbers and they fielded their own candidate. I have listened to grievances of each of the MLAs and also discussed making the two-day state level workshop a success,” said Pande, adding that there is no threat to the coalition government in Jharkhand.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Aditya Sahu who filed nomination at the same Assembly House office on Tuesday had the presence of almost all BJP MLAs, former chief minister Raghubar Das and Babulal Marandi and even Ajsu leader and Silli MLA Sudesh Mahato.
With only two candidates in place after the last day of filing of nomination, there would be no election for the two Rajya Sabha berths from Jharkhand.
Incidentally, two seats of Jharkhand are among the 57 Rajya Sabha seats which fell vacant from 15 states after members’ terms expiring between June and August. In Jharkhand, both BJP Upper House members Mahesh Poddar and Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (elected in 2016) terms are expiring in July. The election will be held on June 10.
Significantly, in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, JMM has 30 MLAs, Congress 17 (after Bandhu Tirkey disqualification and conviction in disproportionate asset case) and RJD 1 which puts them in a position of 49 while 41 is required for majority. Opposition BJP has 26 while its ally Ajsu has 2 seats.
