The BJP may face a stiff challenge in Jharkhand in the 2019 Lok Sabha election as the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Congress, along with other regional parties in the state, are likely to form a pre-poll alliance. Former Chief Minister and JMM working president Hemant Soren on Wednesday confirmed to The Indian Express that his party had reached an understanding with the Congress for a pre-poll alliance and things would be finalised soon after discussions on seat-sharing. He also said he was in favour of Opposition parties coming together to defeat the BJP at the national level and believed that this alliance would have to rally around Congress. Buoyed by the party’s success in the recent Assembly bypolls in Jharkhand, where the JMM won Silli and Gomia seats with support from the Congress, the Left and other parties, Soren is firming a pre-poll deal with Congress and other parties such as the RJD, the BSP, the Left and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM). “We (JMM and Congress) have reached an understanding that we will fight the 2019 general elections together. We are yet to discuss the contours of this alliance, including seat-sharing,” Soren said in an interview to The Indian Express. He said it was a natural choice given the political mood in the nation and the electoral dividends Opposition parties were reaping across the nation by coming together. “We won the by-election with support from the Congress and the Left. These were our seats. Yet, to keep the Opposition united, we fought together. Before the bypolls, we had the urban bodies election in which we fought separately and lost to BJP. We saw that when we put our voteshare together, we were far ahead of the BJP,” Soren said. Soren, who is Leader of Opposition in Assembly, showed little enthusiasm for the Third Front even though he recently met leaders from the south, such as Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who has been advocating an alliance led by regional parties. “At present, it is difficult to imagine Indian national politics without the Congress. As far as the ideas being pushed by leaders such as KCR and N Chandrababu Naidu are concerned, in politics many things are discussed. Third Front is not something new. But it could not fructify ever. When something happens, we will think about it,” Soren said. He said he was confident that in alliance with other parties, the JMM could win a majority of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand. “In our state, this (opposition unity) is not something new. We have earlier won 13 out of the 14 seats. This can happen again. Here, BJP is not stronger than JMM organisationally,” he said. Soren said the BJP’s defeat in the by-elections despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaigns were people’s answer to the BJP’s “misgovernance” in the country and the state. “In the present political scenario, there is a demand for Opposition unity. The BJP has a divide-and-rule policy. They are unable to win at places where there are no divisions. This was visible in 2014 as well but the Opposition was not together then. In Jharkhand too, we had increased our voteshare and MLAs then, but Congress got wiped out,” Soren said. Against the backdrop of his presence in Karnataka during the new government’s swearing-in and his meetings with regional leaders, Soren said the national parties would have to accept the national role being played by regional parties. “Both the BJP and the Congress will have to accept that regional parties have succeeded in creating their own sphere of influence. In Bihar, the Congress had to piggyback on regional parties. If the BJP’s winning streak has to be stopped, regional parties will have to be given due importance,” Soren said.
