Eight sitting Jharkhand legislators in Lok Sabha poll fray

Ranchi: The BJP has vowed to increase on its last tally of 12 MPs in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, but even if the opposition alliance does better, there is still a silver lining for the ruling party, albeit at the state level.
Consider this — seven sitting MLAs belonging to the opposition parties are trying their luck in the parliamentary election. If all seven of them win, the opposition’s strength in the 81-member state assembly will be weaker by the same number, thus bringing down their total to 31 from their current 38.

On the other hand, NDA will be left with one MLA less from their tally of 47 in the assembly if its legislator, Chandra Prakash Chaudhary, belonging to ally Ajsu-P, wins the Lok Sabha polls. In such a scenario, the effective strength of the assembly will come down to 72, thereby taking NDA’s tally close to two-third majority. The need for bypolls within six months would also be done away with as the current term of the House will be over by the end of this year, thus coinciding with the state elections.

Main opposition JMM has fielded only two of its sitting MLAs — Jagarnath Mahto and Champai Soren. On fielding sitting MLAs, JMM’s central general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said, “We have focussed on the winnability and have not changed the faces on two seats —Dumka and Rajmahal — as we already have Guruji (Shibu Soren) and Vijay Kumar Hansda and they will win hands down. BJP too, has brought in four new faces and fielded eight of their 12 sitting MPs. It has also conceded one seat to its ally Ajsu-P, weighing on the candidates’ prospects.”

Congress, which has fielded a maximum of three MLAs on the seven seats under the mahagathbandhan banner, is also not worried about the dearth of legislators because of the impending assembly elections. “Manoj Kumar Yadav, Geeta Koda and Sukhdeo Bhagat are all promising candidates who have the potential to lead bigger constituencies and represent the electorate in Parliament. Hence, there was no point in holding them back for the assembly,” said Rajesh Thakur, chairman of the party’s state media committee. Thakur added that there is no dearth of leaders in the oldest political entity of the country and a new line of leaders are ready for the assembly.

The other two MLAs from the opposition camp include JVM-P’s Poreyahat legislator Pradeep Yadav. CPIML’s Dhanwar MLA Rajkumar Yadav is also in the fray though he is not contesting under the opposition alliance. The mahagathbandan has given seven seats to Congress, four to JMM, two to JVM-P and one to RJD. However, RJD has fielded one more candidate in Chatra and will have friendly fight in the Lok Sabha polls which will begin in the state from April 29.