The Janata Dal (United) will contest the Jharkhand assembly elections with the BJP. Talking to reporters in Ranchi, the Executive President of JD(U), Sanjay Jha, said the seat-sharing formula between the two parties will be decided very soon. Jha today held a meeting with party leaders and reviewed the prevailing political situation in the state.
The JDU state working committee meeting was held on Monday in which the party's acting national president Sanjay Kumar Jha and others leaders were present. After this meeting, he spoke to the media and told that this meeting has been held to prepare for the assembly elections. While talking to the media, Sanjay Jha said, "The meeting was to prepare for the upcoming elections. Our party has always had a big base in Jharkhand. We have had ministers and MLAs. Khiru Mahto is our Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand. CM Nitish Kumar has an attachment with Jharkhand. Both have been from the same state. They are like siblings. Our party will contest the elections." People are looking towards JDU with hope - Sanjay Jha Sanjay Jha also gave information about this meeting on social media.
He wrote on 'X', "Today I attended the meeting of Jharkhand State JDU Working Committee in Ranchi. During this, meaningful discussions were held on the expansion of the party organization in the state and issues related to the upcoming assembly elections. Due to the historic development work done in Bihar under the able leadership of Hon'ble Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, people in Jharkhand are also looking towards JDU with a new hope.
Meanwhile, with “crucial” NDA ally JDU expressing keenness to contest the Jharkhand Assembly polls along with the BJP, the saffron party is having sleepless nights over seat-sharing.
The BJP had fought the recent Lok Sabha polls with its old ally Ajsu (though Ajsu had contested separately in the 2019 Assembly polls in Jharkhand after differences with then chief minister Raghubar Das) and now it will have to give some of its “own” seats to the JDU.
Though senior BJP leaders officially passed the seat-sharing decision onto the “party central committee”, insiders said the leadership would have a tough time managing resentment among local party aspirants for Assembly seats if they accommodate allies.
“Party leaders should keep in mind that district-level leaders nurture hope of contesting polls. We can understand the two sitting seats for Ajsu (Silli and Gomia) but now we have to contend with our traditional seat of Jamshedpur East (which was won by Independent MLA Saryu Roy in 2019 and who joined the JDU this month),” said a Ranchi-based BJP leader.
