Tag: AJSU

After Jharkhand Loss, BJP’s Bihar Mission Is To Keep Nitish Kumar Happy.

Source – ndtv.com

Patna: With the BJP suffering a crushing defeat in the Jharkhand elections after its separation from the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), the party leadership in neighbouring Bihar on Thursday insisted that its alliance with Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United remains strong and unaffected by differences over seat-sharing.

“The NDA is united in Bihar, and there are no differences over seat-sharing. Our alliance is led by five-time Chief Minister Nitish Kumar,” tweeted Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

Significantly, he also praised Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren – who is set to lead the alliance government in Jharkhand – even if it was only to put down the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav.

“The Mahagathbandhan‘s (grand alliance’s) leadership is not in the hands of a person who is educated, simple and polite like Hemant Soren, but with a young man who has been charged with 54 benami property cases at the age of 29,” Mr Modi further claimed in his tweet.

The Congress-JMM combine scored an impressive victory in Jharkhand in the just-concluded elections, bagging 47 seats as compared to the BJP’s 25 and the AJSU’s two. Even as the results were coming through, Tejashwi Yadav – who is also the leader of the opposition in the Bihar assembly – hinted that it would have a cascading effect on the assembly elections next year.

Mr Modi’s tweet was seen as a response to this claim.

Besides Jharkhand, the BJP also suffered a massive loss in Maharashtra last month after the Shiv Sena ended their 30-year-old alliance after differences over sharing the chief minister’s position on a rotational basis. After the latest defeat, Janata Dal United spokesperson Sanjay Singh warned the BJP against pushing its luck with allies. Even Shiromani Akali Dal leader Naresh Gujral said that a bulk of the ruling party’s allies were “unhappy” over issues like the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

However, BJP MP Ramkripal Yadav rejected suggestions of dissent among allies in Bihar, saying that the extraordinary work done by Nitish Kumar would ensure the coalition’s return to power next year.

For now, the party leadership in Bihar has resolved to keep the Janata Dal United in good humour at all costs. BJP leader Giriraj Singh – who had clashed with Nitish Kumar during the Patna floods earlier this year – has been told to not make any controversial statements on the Citizenship Amendment Act or the NRC, and the party is wary of the Janata Dal United seeking a bigger slice of the seat-sharing pie ahead of the polls.

Jharkhand poll: Voting for 12 seats ends, 57.96 per cent votes cast.

Source – newindianexpress.com

RANCHI: Voting ended for 12 of the 17 assembly seats at 3 p.m. in the third phase of the polls with 57.96 per cent votes being cast on Thursday.

The voting will end at 5 p.m. for the Ranchi, Hatia, Kanke, Ramgarh and Barkatha assembly seats.

Jharkahnd Governor Draupdi Murmu cast her vote at ATI Ranchi while AJSU president Sudesh Mahtyo cast his vote along with his wife at Silli. Jayant Sinha cast his vote in Hazaribagh.

In the third phase the key candidates are three ministers — CP Singh, Ramchandra Sahis and Neera Yadav, Former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi and former Deputy Chief Minister and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) president Sudesh Mahto.

Of the 17 seats, BJP, JMM and Congress had won 10, three and two seats respectively in the 2014 Assembly elections.

There is a direct fight on between the BJP, Congress and JMM candidates on seven seats. For the Silli seat the fight is between AJSU president Sudesh Mahto and JMM sitting legislator Seema Devi. There is a triangular fight on six seats. For some seats the fight is four-cornered or multi-cornered.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jharkahnd Chief Minister Raghubar Das have appealed to the voters to cast their votes.

Jharkhand elections: Parties not walking talk on women candidates.

Source – newindianexpress.com

RANCHI: While parties of all hues pledged 50 per cent reservation for women in government jobs, in their respective manifestoes for the ongoing Jharkhand Assembly elections, none have come even close to walking the talk by giving enough tickets to women candidates.

The parties, which promised to reserve 33 per cent tickets for women candidates, have failed to put even 17 per cent women on their tickets.While former chief minister Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) could put 11 women in fray, the most of all the contesting parties, the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) came a close second, fielding 9 women candidates. The JVM announced nominees for all seats in the 81-member Assembly, the AJSU named candidates for 52.

However, in terms of percentage of women representation, JVM lags AJSU by 3.4%. While the percentage of AJSU’s women candidates stands at 16.9 per cent, the JVM falls marginally behind at 13.5 per cent.
At seven, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded the third most women candidates, while the Congress lags with a paltry 5 per cent. While the BJP is contesting 80 seats, the Congress is in fray in 31. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) fares even worse, with just 6 of its 43 candidates being women.
Political experts said the primary reason why the parties shied away from giving more tickets to women is that they are not taken seriously by voters, unless they are accomplished names in politics or other fields.
“Another reason why women leaders aren’t considered for tickets is that they are not as active in the field as their male counterparts. Most step out of their homes only when they are named candidates,” said a political expert, asking not to be named.

Only women who have established themselves in the field of politics are wooed for tickets by parties, he added.The contesting parties, however, asserted that winability, not gender, is the only criterion when it comes to deciding their poll candidates.

Maoists trigger IED blast, 2 CoBRA personnel hurt
Maoists triggered an IED blast near the Vijaygiri hillock, in the Tamar police station area of Ranchi on Sunday morning. The attack left two personnel of Commando Battalions for Resolute Action, (CoBRA) injured. The security personnel were escorting a polling party when the explosive device was detonated. Police said both the injured personnel are believed to be out of danger. “The CoBRA personnel were sent to escort polling officials on their way back from a booth,” ML Meena, ADG (Operations) and spokesperson for Jharkhand Police, said.

Won’t spare anyone if provoked: Rajnath
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said India never provoked any nation, but, if incited, it would not spare anyone. Addressing a poll meeting at Jharia in Jharkhand, he said the measures taken by the Narendra Modi-led government to curb terrorism have cemented India’s reputation as one of the strongest nations in the world. “Our intention is clear. Our policy is clear…Hum duniya ke kisi desh ko chhedenge naihin; lekin jo hum ko chhedega, hum chhodenge nahin (we will never provoke any country, but, if provoked, will not spare anyone),” the Union minister said.

Amit Shah Says Jharkhand Will Again Pick ‘Twin-Engine’ Govt, Confident of Old Ally’s Return.

Source – news18.com

New Delhi: The BJP may have lost its old ally, the Shiv Sena, in Maharashtra, but party chief Amit Shah is confident of a reunion with estranged ally AJSU in Jharkhand, which goes to polls from November 30.

Speaking at News18’s Agenda Jharkhand summit on Thursday, the BJP chief expressed confidence that the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), which is contesting the upcoming Assembly elections alone, will return to the NDA fold after the elections.

“I am confident that the BJP will return to power with a thumping majority in Jharkhand and will not need support… Jharkhand will again chose the twin-engine government. But I am also confident that AJSU will be back by our side,” Shah said.

Invoking Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Shah said it was the former prime minister and BJP stalwart who ensured the creation of Jharkhand. “The state could not be created when Congress was at power in the centre despite the sacrifices of thousands of youth. It was only after Atal ji came to power that Jharkhand was created. Since 2014, PM Narendra Modi has given shape to the state and CM Raghubar Das is taking it forward,” he said.

Shah added that the state’s tribal population and residents feel cheated when they see a party like the JMM, which fought for Jharkhand’s creation, rubbing shoulders with the Congress.

The BJP chief also said at the event that incumbent Raghubar Das is the party’s CM face for the upcoming elections as well. Jharkhand will vote in five-phased elections beginning this Saturday and the counting of votes will be held on December 23.

In its manifesto, the BJP has promised to end Naxal violence in the state, provide job or self-employment opportunities to one member of the each BPL (below poverty line) family, launch of the Krishi Bima Yojna to provide full insurance cover to crops, and construction of water grid to every cultivable plot of land.

The manifesto also promises 33 per cent reservation to women in government jobs, 70 new Eklavya Schools by 2022, free job training camps for tribal students, construction of tribal hostels in every district, two skill development centres in each district and a new sports university. It assured Rs 1,000 crore fund to provide modern facilities at government schools and colleges, and setting up of an agro industrial corridor.

Spirited fightbacks and BJP’s vulnerabilities in states.

Source – tribuneindia.com

The BJP is engaged in a two-pronged ideological project that seeks to assert Hindu hegemony as much as it works to make one leader the unquestioned authority over much of India. At the national level, the BJP, led by Narendra Modi, prevailed quite magnificently in the General Election earlier this year. But as we are yet to have that much-promoted ‘one nation, one poll’, the states continue to throw up challenges for the BJP. 

First, there is the problem of plenty and the consequence of initiating growth at the expense of traditional allies. That is what really lies at the heart of the Shiv Sena breaking free of the BJP and attempting another arrangement with the NCP and Congress. The current Modi-Shah-led BJP has a very different approach to coalitions and allies than the Vajpayee-led arrangement that ruled from 1998 to 2004. In its current avatar, the BJP diminishes the regional parties and takes over their space. Once the senior partner in the Maharashtra arrangement, the Sena has had to live with diminishing clout and the fear of losing its USP. A consequence of the Sena departure from the NDA is that a section of the BJP now believes it should have fought on every seat in Maharashtra and given no space to the regional party to play its games. Soon after the Maharashtra verdict, the BJP played hardball with its ally in Jharkhand, the All-Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU) and refused to agree to its seat demands for state elections that will take place in five phases starting on November 30. The AJSU is now contesting on its own. 

The question now is whether this psychological approach will extend to Bihar, where the BJP is in government with Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and where elections take place exactly a year from now.First, let us recall that the current state government is technically forged against the mandate that was given to the grand alliance of Nitish and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD in 2015. It was that pairing that had given rise to the idea of a mahagathbandhan that has currently been discredited. Although Home Minister Amit Shah has stated that the Bihar elections will be fought under the leadership of Nitish Kumar, the BJP has actually been covertly working in the state with certain elements of the RJD to clip Nitish’s wings. There is a push-pull happening in Bihar and given what’s happened in Maharashtra, the BJP would want to safeguard its investment and back a weakened Nitish who could subsequently be dumped. In another strange twist in the world of NDA allies, the JD(U) has announced it will be fighting every seat in Jharkhand on its own even as the party continues to refuse to join the Modi government at the Centre.       

Secondly, the BJP would also need to rework its recent approach to “social engineering”, a term put into usage by one-time RSS ideologue KN Govindacharya, who had worked as organisation secretary of the BJP at a critical time in the party’s growth. After the 2014 win of Narendra Modi, the BJP went against conventional caste and community parameters in choosing leadership for the states. 

In the two states that have most recently voted, Haryana and Maharashtra, and where the BJP’s performance was underwhelming, the party had rather courageously gone against the dominant caste syndrome. This essentially means that they selected chief ministers that did not come from social groups that have traditionally wielded power in these states. It was all supposed to be going smoothly and had the BJP won, the party would have been credited with reinventing the wheel. 

But as it turned out, the dominant castes struck back in both states. In Haryana, the BJP’s social coalition was essentially an anti-Jat rainbow, but the party failed to win a majority. To form the government, it had to turn to a 31-year-old Jat leader, Dushyant Chautala, from a political dynasty and make him the Deputy Chief Minister of the state. In Haryana, the strong re-emergence of the Congress too was largely due to the Jat leadership of a former Chief Minister. 

Similarly, in Maharashtra, now under President’s rule, the old political warhorse, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, made much of his campaign about injured Maratha pride — the traditional ruling community of the state that had been restive through much of the reign of Brahmin Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. 

In Jharkhand, too, the BJP had gone against the convention of having an Adivasi Chief Minister in a state that was supposedly created for the tribals that make up 27 per cent of the population. The state formed on November 15, 2000, had had only Adivasi chief ministers till December 27, 2014, when Raghubar Das from a backward caste became Chief Minister. Still, the dominant caste syndrome would not apply here in the same manner as it did in Haryana and Maharashtra as Jats and Marathas have economic and muscle power, unlike the tribals. 

Given the BJP’s disappointing performance in the last round of Assembly polls, the party will be waiting to see if the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance that is projecting tribal leader Hemant Soren as the CM, would make a breakthrough. If it does, then the case for arithmetical alliances by the opposition will get strengthened again. Soren has described the BJP as a “sinking ship”, but is it so? Internal surveys convince the BJP that going it alone could be the best option (CSDS data for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls shows that the BJP got 64 per cent of the Hindu vote in Jharkhand).

Third, there is now the question of the BJP’s ability to absorb defectors from other parties, a situation that is playing out most visibly in Karnataka, where the BJP got a government after orchestrating absenteeism from 17 members of the preceding Congress-JD (S) coalition. The SC, in a controversial order, has now allowed these legislators to contest elections, but they had originally fought against BJP candidates, so that is creating local-level problems. Besides, the Karnataka defectors and the BJP would be worried by the results of polls in Maharashtra, Haryana and some byelections where party-hoppers were mostly defeated.

For all its apparent might, therefore, the BJP does have vulnerabilities in the states. On the one hand, the Modi persona and an enhanced Hindu identity appear to be the gifts that keep giving results. Yet, state contests show local divergences and sudden islands of spirited fightbacks that do not always go according to the script that is planned, promoted and executed with might and money. 

Is BJP a reliable ally? A look at its alliance politics beyond Maharashtra logjam.

Source – indiatoday.in

I am not a BJP wala. I do not lie. With these words, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray parted ways with the BJP earlier this month asserting that the leading NDA partner is not trustworthy. The Shiv Sena leaders have referred to the troublesome relation of the BJP with alliance partners in other states.

Recently, the Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJP) complained that the BJP did not entertain its request of a respectable tie-up in Jharkhand for the upcoming assembly election. The BJP and the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) too fell out failing to arrive at a seat-sharing agreement. The AJSU is the oldest ally of the BJP in Jharkhand. They have never fought state elections separately before.

During the Haryana Assembly election, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) lashed out at the BJP on quite a few occasions. The SAD had in June this year proposed an alliance with the BJP in Haryana but the BJP did not pay heed to the call.

In the run-up to the Haryana election, the BJP inducted its lone MLA in the party prompting SAD chief Sukhbir Badal to remind the BJP of maryada (dignity) of the alliance. Later, campaigning for the Haryana election, Sukhbir Badal hit out at the BJP claiming those sitting in power [read the BJP] will be soon in Opposition.

At the NDA meeting in New Delhi last week, LJP president Chirag Paswan stressed the need for a convener of the alliance saying the presence of the Shiv Sena was missed.

This appears as if the alliance partners of the BJP are not comfortable with the parties at present. But a look at the BJP’s relationship with its alliance partners points to a similar tumultuous equation.

THE JAN SANG DAYS

The RSS floated the Bharatiya Jan Sangh (BJS) in 1951 making debut politics. The BJS tasted power for the first time in 1967 in Madhya Pradesh when about 60 MLAs of the ruling Congress defected to the Opposition and various parties including the BJS formed the Sanyukta Vidhayak Dal. A government was formed but soon they started quarreling over ideological differences. The government collapsed in 1969.

At the national level, the BJS ceased to exist in 1977 merging itself with other anti-Congress parties to form the Janata Party. It was a grand-alliance of the time. It too collapsed in less than three years. These experiences left such a deep imprint on the RSS-trained leaders of the Jan Sangh that when they founded the BJP (the new version of the BJS) in 1980, they were reluctant to go for alliances.

The Shiv Sena came along over 1984-89 period in Maharashtra, where the BJP was very weak those days. By 1989, the BJP had gained enough strength. The Janata Dal (of VP Singh, Chandrashekhar and Devi Lal) had fallen short of a majority in the election. The BJP had the choice of joining the government giving it stability but it refused. BJP leadership of LK Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, instead, extended outside support to the VP Singh government. They withdrew support over Mandal-Kamandal episode.

NEW ERA OF ALLIANCES

In 1996, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the Lok Sabha election. But 161 seats in the Lok Sabha election at that time appeared as the BJP’s cap forcing it to consider a wider alliance to see it gets power at the Centre. Vajpayee was sworn in as the prime minister with a futuristic strategy. Back then, Advani was considered hardline Hindutva leader and Vajpayee moderate.

In 1998 emerged a multi-party alliance called the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that the BJP stitched up to come to power. The Janata Dal (United), the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the Janata Dal (Secular), the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, the Shiv Sena, the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Biju Janata Dal, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Haryana Vikas Party were the BJP’s allies among others.

Over the next six years, the AIADMK exited the NDA but the DMK joined in; the National Conference walked away but the Peoples Democratic Party joined. The Trinamool Congress Party of Mamata Banerjee was a part of the NDA. Banerjee was a senior minister in the Vajpayee government. The Lok Janshakti Party of Ram Vilas Paswan was also part of the NDA.

WHO FINDS BJP RELIABLE?

Today, only the JDU, the LJP and Shiromani Akali Dal are part of the BJP-led NDA. All others quit NDA blaming the BJP. The AIADMK of Jayalalithaa snapped ties with the BJP in 1999. The National Conference walked away in 2002, the DMK and the Haryana Vikas Party in 2004, the TMC in 2007, the BJD in 2009, the JDS in 2010, the JMM in 2012 and the list goes on.

The case of JDU is curious. Bihar Chief Minister and JDU president Nitish Kumar pulled out of the NDA in 2013 after it the BJP went ahead with Narendra Modi, then Gujarat chief minister, as its prime ministerial candidate.

The BJP tried to compensate the loss of JDU in Bihar by cobbling up an alliance with caste-based parties such as the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party of Upendra Kushwaha and the Hindustani Awam Party of Jeetan Ram Manjhi. The JDU came back in 2017. The RLSP and the HAM broke alliance with the BJP calling it unreliable.

The LJP too had parted ways with the BJP in 2002 in the wake of Gujarat riots. It joined hands with the BJP again in 2014. This gave Paswan the sobriquet of the political weathercock.

Most of these parties have complained that the BJP piggybacked on them to increase its vote base at their cost. Except for Punjab, where the SAD’s appeal on Sikhism plank continues to be in the lead, the charge against the BJP holds true. In most of the states, where the BJP has expanded its base, it has turned itself into a competitor of its alliance partner.

In Maharashtra, the BJP and the Shiv Sena largely compete for the same vote bank but greater resource availability helped the BJP expand at a faster rate. Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana today compared the BJP with medieval marauder Muhammad Gori who invaded India multiple times to plunder its wealth ruing that the Bal Thackeray-led party allowed the BJP flourish in Maharashtra. In Odisha, Karnataka, Bihar, Haryana and the Northeast, the BJP has followed almost the same template.

WHAT IS THE LATEST TREND?

At least half-a-dozen parties have broken their alliances with the BJP in the past two years. In 2014, the Swabhimani Paksha of Raju Shetti was said to have played an important role in the consolidation of votes in favour of the BJP in Maharashtra. The BJP was then focusing on aligning with smaller parties with the focused support group. Alliance with the Swabhimani Paksh was one such decision taken by the party.

The TDP of Chandrababu Naidu had an open fight with PM Modi and the BJP leadership and walked away from the NDA in 2018. The same year, the PDP fought with the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir and the alliance fell. The RLSP broke alliance with the BJP in Bihar in 2019.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha snapped ties with the BJP in West Bengal, where it was considered as a strong ally of the BJP with popular support in and around Darjeeling. The Shiv Sena and the AJSU have not ended their tie-up with the BJP blaming the party leadership of being un-accommodative to their aspirations and concerns.

BJP Blames Jharkhand Ally AJSU For Failing To Reach Seat Adjustments.

Source – ndtv.com

JAMSHEDPUR: The BJP on Monday held its NDA ally AJSU party responsible for not being able to reach a seat-sharing arrangement between the two parties for the Jharkhand assembly polls.

Except for two-three seats, the AJSU party cannot make any dent into the BJP’s poll prospects in the elections, BJP state unit president Laxman Gilua claimed.

“The BJP had given eight seats to the AJSU party in 2014 assembly polls. This time, the party was ready to consider 13 to 14 seats. But AJSU president Sudesh Mahto was rigid on his claim of 18 to 22 seats,” Mr Gilua told PTI.

Mr Mahto had earlier said his party had given a list of 17 candidates for consideration by the BJP.

“The BJP is a national party and should be respected as such. They should have agreed on seats proportionately,” he said referring to the regional status the AJSU party has.

So far the BJP has announced names of 73 contestants for the five-phase Jharkhand assembly elections to be held between November 30 and December 23. On the other hand, the AJSU party has released lists of 27 candidates so far for the 81-member House.

Till now, the two NDA partners will come face to face in 19 constituencies.

However, none of them has officially admitted that they have parted ways, leaving the scope open for a post-poll alliance.

The BJP and the AJSU have been allies ever since Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar on November 15, 2000, with Mahto going on to become a deputy chief minister with the Home portfolio.

Mr Mahto lost the 2014 election from Silli seat and also failed to win a bypoll to the same constituency later.


Mahagathbandhan will come to power in Jharkhand: Congress leader Sanjay Paswan.

Source – indiatoday.in

Jharkhand Congress Working President Sanjay Paswan has claimed that the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ will come to power in the mineral-rich state as the people have witnessed that the BJP-ruled government has not been able to deliver on any front in the last five years.

When asked why being a national party Congress was contesting on lesser seats than a regional party like the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Paswan told IANS: “Congress always believed on coalition dharma. Wherever we think we are strong, we are contesting. We (JMM, Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal) share a same ideology.

“If they think we are afraid of the BJP, it is their misunderstanding. People of Jharkhand have seen them in the past five years. Infact, the BJP is themselves afraid of losing as they are contesting the elections in five phases. Once they said they will remove ‘Naxalism’ from our state, when they chaim it has been removed then why are the elections going four five phases?”

“They (AJSU) are more or less the same. I feel after the results they will again switch hands with them (BJP). We have seen them for last 19 years, we don’t know about them.”

If it comes to power, the Mahagathbandhan’s roadmap would be about taking Jharkhand on the top of the country, Paswan said.

“Firstly, we will provide employment to the youth of Jharkhand so we don’t have to go away from our state. The present BJP-led government did nothing for the youths except looting them. They have given all the mineral-rich lands to the industrialists who are getting benefitted while our youths are struggling for jobs.

“We will change whatever has happened. Every single person of Jharkhand will be happy when we take charge,” he concluded.

Jharkhand will go to polls in five phases from November 30.

Fighting in alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress is contesting 31 of the state’s 81 seats, the JMM 43, and the RJD seven.

BJP banking on multi-polar contest in Jharkhand assembly election 2019.

Source – hindustantimes.com

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has set itself a target of winning more than 65 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly, is banking on a multi-polar contest in the state to edge past its opponents. The Party which is fighting to retain the assembly in the state has not been able to iron out differences with ally All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) over seat sharing, even as other NDA allies the Janata Dal (United) or JDU and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) are contesting alone. Jharkhand will vote in five phases, starting November 30.

LJP president Chirag Paswan on Tuesday said his party will contest 50 seats in the state on its own and announced names of five candidates for polls. He told mediapersons that the LJP’s offer for an alliance to the BJP went unanswered. The other ally JDU was the first off the block to announce that it would go alone.

Even as the saffron party is downplaying friction between allies, it is hopeful that the absence of a contender to incumbent CM Raghubar Das from the opposition side could work to its advantage in fighting battling anti-incumbency and infighting.

In the state with a large Tribal population, the BJP will have to defend its performance on issues such as of unemployment, farm distress and economic slowdown.

“There is no one bloc that will gain the anti-incumbency vote. There are many factions in the opposition camp as well,” a party functionary said.

On whether the Sena-BJP fallout in Maharashtra has had an impact on the talks with allies in the poll-bound state, a state functionary said the party is making sure that the pre-poll discussions leave no scope for digressions later. He also acknowledged that there has been “discomfort” over the decision to give Das a second turn.

In the last assembly poll, the BJP had won 37 seats will AJSU had won 5 seats.

To be sure, the opposition Mahagathbandhan of the opposition has on board the Congress, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and seat sharing discussions are on with the RJD. Former chief minister Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha(Prajatantrik) has also opted to go alone.

“The party is ensuring that there is no repetition of a Maharashtra-like situation where rebels cut into the BJP vote share and came in the way of party getting a clear majority. It is also not worried about LJP and JDU contesting alone as these are allies of the NDA at the centre,” said the second functionary.

Though the party high command has indicated that Das will be leading the state unit into the electoral battle, a section within the party had expressed concern over naming Das as the CM for a second term.

“There have been reports of disagreement within the party unit at the state level. But for now the leadership has thrown its weight behind Das,” said a party functionary not wishing to be named.

The fissures came to fore in February this year, when Saryu Rai, minister of food and public distribution wrote to BJP national president Amit Shah, expressing concern over the Jharkhand chief minister’s style of functioning. He had also According alleged that the Jharkhand government was protecting the interests of a few business houses.

On Sunday while announcing the first set of contenders for the polls, BJP working President JP Nadda said had given Das a pat on the back. “Five years back Jharkhand was known for corruption and instability. Today, under the leadership of Raghubar Das, Jharkhand is known for its stability and development. Corruption has been brought down and the state is moving towards development,” Nadda said.

Even as the party refuted all allegations against Das, a second state functionary said there have been concerns about the choice of contestants as well; a case in point being Bhanu Pratap Shahi, a former minister in the Madhu Koda’s government and is accused in a Rs 130 crore medicine scam, who will contest from Bhavnathpur Assembly constituency and Shashi Bhushan, accused of murder, who is being fielded from Panki.

Why Jharkhand election is a headache for Modi-Shah.

Source – indiatoday.in

Jharkhand goes to the polls in five phases between November 30 and December 20 for 81 assembly seats. The BJP faces a stiff challenge to retain Jharkhand in order to wrest the trend of losing states in the past one year.

In November 2018, the BJP boasted of having chief ministers in 16 states. Now, the party is in power in 12. The loss of four states happened on both sides of the 2019 Lok Sabha election in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi pulled off a spectacular victory for the BJP.

The challenge looks particularly daunting in Jharkhand in view of the assembly election results in Maharashtra and Haryana, and subsequent trouble with allies. The less than expected performance and bitter experience with its allies in Maharashtra and Haryana is believed to be weighing heavily in the minds of BJP leadership headed by Modi-Shah.

In Jharkhand, the BJP has not yet sealed a seat-sharing arrangement with its existing ally — the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU). The LJP, its ally in Bihar, too wanted to join hands with it but has now decided to contest the election on its own.

On the other hand, the Opposition parties – the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress and the RJD – have inked a seat-sharing formula after returning from the verge of collapse. On paper, the Opposition alliance looks formidable in Jharkhand.

In the run-up to the Jharkhand assembly elections, the BJP has suffered setbacks with leaders, including chief whip Radhakrishna Kishore, switching sides to the AJSU and complicating matters. State elections have emerged as a new headache for the BJP.

STATE ELECTIONS ARE BJP’S NEW WORRY

In state elections, where PM Modi is not a direct factor, the BJP has struggled. Many believed that the triple loss in the Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh was a mere blip or the call of democracy-to change governments in elections. But the recent elections in Maharashtra and Haryana reinforce the critics’ assertion that the BJP is on a sticky ground in states where PM Modi’s personal appeal is not a moving factor.

The BJP barely scraped through in Haryana piggybacking on fledgling Jannayak Janata Party of Dushyant Chautala, who emerged as the kingmaker. The BJP’s claim of providing good governance for five years failed to find enough echo from the people and the party fell short of majority.

In Maharashtra, the BJP leadership of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah got foxed by rather underestimated politician Uddhav Thackeray, who is most-likely to be the next chief minister in the state.

The BJP contested Maharashtra election in alliance with the Shiv Sena, which changed track after election results left BJP short of majority, though the coalition got a clear mandate to form government. Now, the BJP is likely to sit in Opposition and its rivals, the Congress and the NCP, to share power with the Shiv Sena.

MAHARASHTRA-HARAYANA HANGOVER IN JHARKHAND

There is apprehension in the BJP camp that Jharkhand may follow the trend seen in Haryana or Maharashtra. The BJP leadership has been in dilemma whether it should go solo in the election or concede more seats (than it wants) to its ally/ies in Jharkhand.

In 2014, the BJP contested Jharkhand Assembly election in alliance with the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU). They got 43 of 81 assembly seats defeating the grand-alliance of the Congress, the RJD, the JDU and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).

Now, the BJP-AJSU alliance is almost over. The BJP has been announcing its nominees without clarifying if it will continue its alliance with the AJSU, which is the oldest ally of the party in the state. The two parties have never contested separately since the formation of Jharkhand in 2000.

The AJSU and the LJP of Ram Vilas Paswan (the party is now led by his son Chirag Paswan), however had expressed willingness to contest Jharkhand election in alliance with the BJP. But the LJP last week announced it will go alone. The AJSU is also apparently forced to chart the same path. Both are constituents of the BJP-led NDA.

It seems the post-election politics of Maharashtra and Haryana is hovering over Jharkhand election, making it difficult for the BJP leadership of Modi-Shah to take a decision about pre-poll alliance.

In Haryana, it went alone and fell short of majority. In Maharashtra, it allied with the Shiv Sena but the Shiv Sena dumped it after election results were announced.

The BJP, therefore, finds itself in a catch-22 situation in Jharkhand. It is not sure about forming alliance but it is not looking confident either to win majority on its own. In 2014 assembly election too, it wasn’t able to cross the half-way mark on its own.

FOR MODI VERSUS FOR BJP?

There is more to worry for the BJP. In its 2014 state election victory, the BJP had polled fewer votes than it secured in the Lok Sabha, when Narendra Modi was seeking his first term as the prime minister. The BJP won 12 of 14 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 polling 40 per cent votes in the state.

In 2014 Jharkhand election, BJP’s vote share was only 31 per cent. With ally AJSU, the total vote share was less than 35 per cent – a dip of over 5 per cent in mere five months.

In 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Modi wave saw the BJP-led coalition garner over 55 per cent votes with the BJP winning 11 seats and the AJSU one. At stake was the second term for PM Modi against a belligerent “chowkidar chor hai” campaign by Rahul Gandhi of the Congress.

In both Haryana and Maharashtra elections, however, the BJP’s vote share dipped significantly compared to its performance in the Lok Sabha election. The BJP, even PM Modi himself, could not convince voters that a vote for state government would be a vote for PM Modi.

Going into the assembly polls in Jaharkhand, the party has set a target of winning 65 of the 81 seats but it fears a repeat of what happened in Maharashtra or Haryana.