FRONT PAGE | Friday, November 6, 2009 | Email | Print | 
Time running out, parties sew up pacts in Jharkhand
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
With time running out for closing of nominations for the first phase, battle lines have finally been drawn in Jharkhand. The BJP and the Janata Dal (United) have sealed a poll pact and so have the Congress and Babulal Marandi. The third alliance comprises the RJD, the LJP and the Left parties while the JMM will enter the contest separately to emerge as a ‘kingmaker’ in the post-election scenario.
A day after its “unilateral decision” to call off the seat-sharing talks, the JD(U) on Thursday agreed to contest 14 of the total 81 seats in alliance with the BJP. According to the pact, the JD(U) will field its candidates in Shikaripara, Sarath, Deoghar, Mandu, Dumri, Baghmara, Panki, Bhavnathpur, Tamar, Chandankiyari, Chhattarpur, Vishrampur, Bokaro and Hussainabad constituencies.
On Wednesday, the JD(U) had released a list of 18 candidates and party chief Sharad Yadav said the previous list stood cancelled. With the new list coming into force, the JD(U) left its claim on six seats — Hatia, Mandar, Koderma, Hazaribag, Barhi and Gandey — but got the Chandankiyari and Chattarpur seats.
“The State units of both the parties have decided that it would be better for them and for the State if they contested the election together. The BJP will contest 67 seats and leave 14 for its partner,” BJP president Rajnath Singh told reporters here on Thursday.
Shard Yadav maintained that their alliance with the BJP was “very old” and they would emerge victorious in Jharkhand. The parties would campaign jointly but it was still not clear if there would be a common manifesto, he added.
While the NDA has succeeded in setting its house in order, the Congress seems to have won over former CM and tribal leader Babulal Marandi, whose Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) is expected to get around 25 seats. Congress leaders claim that the deal with Marandi was “almost through” and the official announcement was expected in a day or two. “There are some problems on a couple of seats. We do not rule out a friendly fight in these constituencies,” a senior AICC functionary said.
Marandi, who walked out of the BJP a couple of years back to float his own outfit, is extending support to the UPA Government at the Centre. He is going to be a prize catch for the Congress, whose strength in the Assembly was not even in double digits. Congress leaders in New Delhi hope their alliance with the “popular” Marandi would repair, to a large extent, the damage that Madhu Koda’s reputation would have done to the party. The Congress had extended crucial support to the Government of independents headed by Madhu Koda, who is now under scanner of the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax for amassing properties disproportionate to known sources of income.
While political observers expect a close contest between the BJP-JD(U) and the Congress-JVM, former UPA partners – the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Rashtriya Janata Dal – would fight for their pride. The Congress had an alliance with the JMM in the 2005 Assembly elections. In this year’s parliamentary poll, the two parties had fared badly. After the setback in the LS election, the Congress decided to dump JMM.
The JMM is in dire straits. Its head Sibu Soren – popularly known as Guruji – lost a by-election to an independent even when he was the Chief Minister. The veteran leader, who is not in the pink of his health, lost his elder son and former legislator Durga Soren earlier this year and some of his friends deserted him for promoting his family members within the party. The JMM, which emerged the second largest party in the 2005 Assembly election, will go to poll without an alliance and will face the uphill task of making inroads in the State’s non-tribal areas.
The RJD of former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad is also striving to keep itself relevant in Jharkhand politics. Lalu, who was instrumental in installing Koda as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, unsuccessfully tried to forge an alliance with the Congress and landed up striking a deal with the Lok Janshakti Party and the communists, who are marginal forces in the State.
On Thursday, Lalu released a list of candidates for 22 of the 30 constituencies going to polls in the first phase on November 25. “We have left five seats for the LJP and three for the CPI and the CPI-M, with whom we have arrived at a seat-sharing accord,” Lalu said in Patna. He, however, was reluctant to talk about the rest of the 51 seats. “Wait for a couple of days for the party’s candidates for the remaining seats,” he said.
Meanwhile, party insiders confided that the RJD chief had struck a deal, under which the party would contest 50-51 seats in the 81-member House, leaving 10 for the LJP which has already declared its candidates, and 10 each for the CPI and the CPI-M.
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