The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Congress announced a pre-poll alliance for the upcoming elections in Jharkhand. The two parties will fight the elections under the leadership of JMM Chief Hemant Soren.
The status of the Rashtriya Janata Dal remains unclear.
Addressing a press conference in Ranchi on Friday, 8 November, Hemant Soren and Congress’ Jharkhand In Charge said that JMM will contest 43 seats and Congress 31 seas in the 81-member Assembly. The two parties have left 7 seats for the RJD.
However, there appears to be some disagreement with the RJD. Soren had met RJD Chief Tejashwi Yadav earlier this week. The deal was almost finalised but differences emerged over some specific seats.
“We are hopeful that we will be able to bring the RJD on board,” Soren said during the press conference.
Even RPN Singh maintained that the RJD will be part of the alliance.
“Hemant Soren ji has already conveyed that whatever issues there are, will be addressed,” he said.
Singh added that Soren will be speaking to RJD Founder Lalu Prasad to finalise the agreement.
“Lalu Prasad is the supremo of RJD. He is in jail and it is not easy to communicate with him. There are many issues we need to discuss with him... the authorities also create difficulties by placing restrictions on him,” Soren said.
The announcement on Friday indicates that even if the differences with RJD are resolved, the Opposition alliance is unlikely to include former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) and Left parties.
The JMM and Congress also announced that JMM’s Hemant Soren will be the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance.
“We will fight this election under the leadership of JMM’s officiating president Hemant Soren. He will be the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance,” RPN Singh told the media.
Singh also made it clear that there will be no “friendly fights” and any candidate who contests against the alliance as a rebel will face action.
Can They Defeat BJP?
However, the JMM and Congress will have their task cut out. Despite having a four-party tie-up between the JMM, Congress, RJD and JVM(P), the alliance managed to win just two seats during the Lok Sabha elections, while the BJP and its ally AJSU won 12.
Even in terms of vote share, the alliance was 20 percentage points behind the BJP-AJSU.
The JMM-Congress-led alliance succeeded in getting the support of Muslims, Dalits and Christian tribals. But the massive consolidation of OBCs, Hindu tribals and upper castes helped BJP win by a landslide.
However, the two parties’ hopes have increased after the BJP’s sub-par performance in the recent Assembly elections in Haryana and in Maharashtra. They hope that the Modi factor will no longer be in play in the state elections and the BJP’s vote share could reduce substantially like its 22 percentage point fall in Haryana.
“There is immense resentment against the Raghubar Das government on every front, particularly unemployment,” Soren said.
Jobs are the main plank for Soren. He has promised 70 percent reservation for locals in private sector jobs, 50 percent quota for women in government jobs and an increase in the reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs.
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