JMM workers want Geeta Koda to pay for campaigning costs

Jamshedpur: Mahagathbandhan candidate Geeta Koda (Congress) is experiencing initial hiccups in taking along JMM MLAs and senior party leaders for chalking out a campaign strategy in the Singhbhum parliamentary constituency. Koda will be taking on BJP’s sitting MP Laxman Gilua in the elections. SInghbum goes to the polls on May 12.
A video which has gone viral shows how JMM leaders are demanding money, diesel and liquor from the Congress candidate for support on the ground. In the video, JMM’s Chakradharpur MLA Shashibhushan Samad is seen stating that Koda has to bear the cost of diesel and hadia (country liquor) for JMM joining her campaign. Talking to a local news channel a couple of days ago, Samad said Congress has poor organizational strength in Singhbhum and the candidate would have to pay for the expenses.

Samad played down the comments. “It was a passing comment… an off the cuff remark made in a lighter vein,” he told TOI on Saturday.

On Thursday, when Koda went to meet him at his ancestral house in Chakradharpur, the MLA locked himself in the room and refused to open the door till she left. “I had to rush to Ranchi for some urgent work and that is the reason why the door was closed,” he explained.

JMM district committee secretary Sonaram Devgam is also unhappy with Koda trying to contact JMM booth-level workers directly. “If she has to seek the support of JMM, she has to have a word with the leaders instead of approaching the workers directly,” he said.

Another JMM MLA from the district has also expressed reservations about supporting Koda. “She is the wife of former chief minister Madhu Koda, an accused in a multi-crore scam. Her candidature will dent the mahagathbandhan’s campaign to corner BJP on the Rafael scam,” he told TOI on the condition of anonymity.

Koda couldn’t be contacted for her response, but last week she admitted that there were some hurdles in her campaigning and a coordination committee of alliance parties will be formed to iron out the differences.