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Journalism of Courage
With the local leadership unhappy over the BJP’s candidates in four seats in Jharkhand, the party, which had set its sights high, has now scaled down its expectations and is looking at winning the same number of seats it won in 2009.
“The BJP wants to win all the seats in the state, but the minimum has been set at eight. We are hoping that it will be more than 10 seats by the end,” said Abhay Singh, the BJP’s Jamshedpur-based working committee member.
BJP leaders are hoping that in these four tough seats, the Modi wave will see the candidates through during the three-phase election in the state. “It really is a monologue from our side to the voters, asking them to make Narendra Modi prime minister,” said leader Saryu Rai.
In Jamshedpur, the party has fielded Bidyut Baran Mahato, one of the two JMM men who had defected to the BJP ahead of the polls. The other is Hemlal Murmu, who replaces incumbent BJP MP Devidhan Besra in Rajmahal.
Jamshedpur has brought to the fore differences among leaders of the state unit of the party. Leaders such as Rai and former deputy CM Raghubar Das were against Arjun Munda’s recruitment of Mahato, arguing that Munda should have himself contested against incumbent Ajoy Kumar of the JVM(P). But Munda loyalists think it’s part of a smart plan. “Munda wants to be the chief minister and by bringing in Mahato; he killed two birds with a stone. Leaders such as Saryu Rai want to pack Munda to Delhi; he wants to stay here,” said a loyalist.
Another decision that could backfire is the ticket given to outgoing Hazaribagh MP Yashwant Sinha’s venture capitalist son Jayant Sinha. “Yashwant Sinha would not have won this time from Hazaribagh anyway. He wanted to avoid the embarrassment and use the opportunity to introduce his son,” said a BJP leader in the anti-Sinha camp.
Palamu is the third constituency where massive discontent brews among the cadre. BJP workers are angry that three-time MP Braj Mohan Ram was overlooked in favour of former Jharkjhand DGP V D Ram, who is not from the state and joined the party only in 2013.
In Dalit-dominated Chatra, the choice of Bihar-based Sunil Singh, a Rajput and an RSS nominee, could end up troubling the BJP as the Congress and the JVM(P) have fielded OBCs. The denial of a ticket to outgoing MP Inder Singh Namdhari, an independent who had won with the BJP’s support, could also hurt the BJP as he is said to be actively working against Sunil Singh as well as V D Ram.
Apart from the four difficult seats, Koderma and Ranchi worry BJP leaders. BJP state president Ravindra Rai is contesting in Koderma, but not everyone is happy with the nomination.
