Hemant to meet JMM MLAs on RS poll plan tomorrow

Ranchi: Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren is all set to go into a huddle with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MLAs in Ranchi on Saturday to chart the party’s strategy for the upcoming elections to the two Rajya Sabha seats in the state next month.
“The chief minister, who is also the working president of JMM, will hold a detailed meeting with the party’s MLAs and MPs on Saturday morning at the residence of party president Shibu Soren. Thereafter, the party’s stand on the Rajya Sabha elections will be decided,” JMM spokesperson Vinod Kumar Pandey told TOI on Thursday.
Hemant’s meeting comes at a time when the Congress’s national leadership is putting pressure on him not to field a candidate in the upcoming polls and support a candidate picked by the grand old party instead. Hemant has also been invited to New Delhi for a discussion in this regard with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, former chief Rahul Gandhi and party’s national general secretary KC Venugopal.
“Even though he has been invited for a discussion by the Congress national leadership, he is playing the waiting game and wants to sense the mood of the party lawmakers first before taking a final stand. Perhaps, he will meet the Congress president after Saturday,” a senior JMM MLA told TOI on anonymity. The nomination window for the two seats closes on May 31 and polling will take place on June 10.
Asked whether the JMM will field its own candidate or make way for its allies, JMM’s Giridih MLA Sudivya Kumar said: “It has to be decided by the party’s central leadership. One has to wait and see what transpires in Saturday’s meeting.”
However, well-placed sources in Congress claimed that JMM is unlikely to field a candidate this time. “From what it appears at the moment, they do not have anyone in mind. But we will have to wait and see,” a former Lok Sabha MP from Jharkhand, who is currently with Congress, told TOI on anonymity over phone from New Delhi.
When contacted, JMM spokesperson general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya refused to comment. “Any decision on Rajya Sabha elections will be taken after May 28,” he said.