Jharkhand polls: Soren announces INDIA bloc seat sharing formula; RJD disagrees
RANCHI: Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Saturday announced the seat sharing formula of INDIA bloc for the upcoming assembly polls, even as the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) raised objections to the arrangement, underlining that all options including to go solo was open for the party.
Addressing a press conference along with Jharkhand Congress in charge Ghulam Ahmed Mir and other senior leaders at his official residence, Soren said while the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Congress would contest 70 of the 81 seats, the rest 11 would be distributed among the RJD and the Left parties.
“We have decided to include Left in our existing alliance of JMM-Congress-RJD. It has been decided that the JMM and Congress would contest 70 seats while the other two parties would contest the rest,” Soren told reporters.
The JMM executive president, however, did not specify the breakup of the seats allocated to all stakeholders, underlining that it will be revealed in due course.
In 2019, the JMM, Congress and RJD contested the assembly polls in a pre-poll alliance and distributed 81 seats, allocating 43, 31 and seven seats, respectively. The alliance won a comfortable majority of 47 seats, with the JMM winning 30, Congress getting 16 and the RJD winning one seat. It has, however, decided to broaden their alliance and induct CPI-ML in INDIA bloc.
While Soren did not disclose the breakup of parties finalised for 2024 polls, people familiar with the matter said the JMM would contest 41, Congress 29 while the RJD and CPI-ML have been offered seven and four seats, respectively.
The announcement, however, did not go well with the RJD leadership, which described the decision as unilateral. Expressing displeasure over the announcement, senior RJD leader and Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha said the decision was unacceptable and all options, including to go solo in the election, were open for the party.
“We are expressing our displeasure as any announcement ought to be made after due consultations with all stakeholders. We were not consulted even when the entire leadership of the party including our LOP (Tejashwi Yadav), national general secretary, state in-charge and state president are present in the city. In Bihar, we include even those parties who get one or two seats in such decision making,” said Jha.
Underlining that all options for the party were open, Jha said they have identified 15-18 seats where they can ‘defeat the BJP alone’.
“All options are open for. We are expressing our displeasure. Our organisational strength in the state has not been factored in while taking the decision. Last time we contested seven seats due to large heartedness of our national president. He agreed as his main aim was to defeat BJP. Our target remains same, but no party can undermine the sentiments of the party’s cadre and leaders,” added Jha.
His remark exposed the fissures in the alliance, forcing Congress and JMM leaders to meet Tejashwi Yadav stationed at a city hotel since Friday night. Leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi, who was in town to address a social event, visited the hotel from the airport on Saturday, followed by chief minister Hemant Soren.
While Gandhi left for the event venue after meeting Tejashwi and Soren, and without talking to the media, the JMM executive held detailed talks with the RJD leader, party insiders said. Tejashwi and other senior leaders had also called on Soren at the latter’s residence on Friday night and held seat sharing discussions.
On Saturday, Tejashwi held a series of meetings with his party leaders at the hotel before Soren made the seat sharing announcement at his residence along with Congress leaders.
On Friday, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) announced its seat sharing arrangement with the BJP to contest on 68 seats, the AJSU party on 10, JD (U) on two and Lok Janshakti party on one seat.
