Cong names candidates for three LS seats in J’khand, withholds announcement for four others

Ranchi: Congress named its candidates for Ranchi, Lohardaga and Singbhum parliamentary seats of Jharkhand late on Tuesday night. However, it held back the announcement for Chatra, which will go to polls in the first phase of voting in the state, on April 29, as well as Dhanbad, Khunti and Hazaribag.
As part of the seat-sharing agreement with mahagathbandhan constituents, Congress will contest seven seats while JMM and Babulal Marandi-led JVM-P will field candidates in four and one seats. RJD has been allotted the Palamu seat.

The Grand Old Party is fielding former Union minister Subodh Kant Sahay from Ranchi while former state Congress chief Sukhdeo Bhagat will fight from Lohardaga. Former chief minister Madhu Koda’s wife, Geeta Koda will be fielded from Singbhum constituency.

The announcement came in form of a written statement undersigned by Congress general secretary Mukul Wasnik after its central election committee met in New Delhi in the evening and deliberated on the probable candidates.

Lohardaga will go to polls on May 29 along with Palamu and Chatra. Voting for Ranchi will be held on May 6 while Singbhum will see voting in the third phase of polling in state, scheduled on May 12.

Sahay has been a three-time MP and held portfolios like junior minister for home and full-time food processing and tourism ministries. In 2014, he lost to BJP’s Ramtahal Choudhary from Ranchi.

Bhagat, a former state public service officer, is the sitting MLA from Lohardaga. He was also the president of Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee and made way for current state party chief Ajoy Kumar in 2017. He will be up against BJP’s Sudarshan Bhagat, who is an outgoing minister of state in the Union ministry of tribal affairs. “We will certainly win this time. The people have seen the true colour of BJP and had enough of their jumlas,” Sukhdeo said.

Koda, the sitting MLA from Jagannathpur in Chaibasa, merged her Jai Bharat Samantha Party with Congress in November last year. She will be up against BJP’s state president Laxman Gilua. In 2014, Koda lost to Gilua by over 90,000 votes. Her husband Madhu Koda, an independent MLA, became the CM in 2006. He resigned in 2008 and was accused of corruption worth Rs 4,000 crore.

Sahay, who has been connecting with Ranchi’s voters for past few months, launched his campaign trail on Wednesday after meeting JMM president Shibu Soren.

Speaking to TOI, Sahay said his standout feature was acceptance among the people here. “People call me Subodh bhaiyya. I can meet foreign delegates and moments later sip tea from a roadside stall in Albert Ekka Chowk. I have been like this since the first day of my political career,” he said.