Shibu Soren, Babulal Marandi celebrate their birthdays in Ranchi

RANCHI: Shibu Soren and Babulal Marandi, the presidents of the state’s leading opposition parties Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha – Prajatantrik (JVM-P) celebrated their birthdays with the respective party functionaries on Friday.

Soren, a former CM and sitting MP from Dumka, turned 76 years while Marandi, the first CM of Jharkhand, turned 62 years. Marandi, 11 years Soren’s junior, telephoned the latter in the evening and wished him well. Chief minister Raghubar Das well wishes to Marandi and Soren.

Soren and Marandi’s birthdays were celebrated in a politically charged environment in Jharkhand as JMM, JVM-P, Congress and other opposition parties are gearing up for January 17 meeting to seal the fate of Mahagatbandhan, the grand alliance.

Soren’s government bungalow in Morhabadi was decked up in JMM colors to mark the occasion as party workers and functionaries poured in from different parts of the state to greet the veteran politician. Soren’s sons Hemant and Basant led the celebrations in the afternoon.

Briefly interacting with the media, Soren rued that the struggle for a separate state of Jharkhand, of which he was a part, failed its objective as successive government could not lift the lives of poor tribal population of the state in all these years. Blaming bureaucrats for it, Soren claimed that capable officers have been stuck in files instead of not visiting the villages.

JVM-P held the birthday celebrations for Marandi at its party headquarters in Dibdih. Then, he visited the boarders of a blind school in Bahubazar and had lunch with them. Declining to issue political statements, Marandi said: “I want to work for the betterment of Jharkhand’s people for the rest of my life.” The opposition’s bonhomie was on display as veteran Congress leader Subodh Kant Sahay visited Marandi and Soren to extend good wishes.