BJP still riding high on Modi in Jharkhand, but unable to put house in order

Five years later, the BJP enters the Lok Sabha poll arena, starting May 13, still riding on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity, but the advantage may have whittled down. And not so much because of the arrest of Heman Soren in January this year – a controversial and sentimental issue for some – but due to dissent and conflict within its own ranks.

The BJP is contesting 13 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, and the AJSU only Giridih.

Earlier this month, the BJP headquarters in Chatra district was witness to sloganeering by supporters of party leader Rajdhani Yadav.

The protests were provoked by the BJP dropping two-time sitting Chatra MP Sunil Singh and picking Kalicharan Singh instead. Yadav himself publicly expressed displeasure over not being considered for the ticket despite giving 40 years to the BJP. “The ticket has been given
to a party virodhi (an anti-party person),” he said.

A BJP worker from Chatra told The Indian Express that Kalicharan got the ticket at the last minute. “BJP workers are unhappy.”

A senior BJP leader, however, played down the protests. “It’s natural that there will be some disagreement over ticket distribution. We name candidates after detailed deliberations.”

In Dhanbad, Banghmara MLA Dhullu Mahato, who has been given the ticket over three-time sitting MP Pashupati Nath Singh, continues to face pushback from within the party. A former BJP MLA from Jamshedpur East, Saryu Roy, is opposing Mahato’s candidature, over his alleged involvement in more than 40 criminal cases.

Besides, Mahato is facing an FIR filed by former BJP member and local Marwari Sammelan president Krishna Agarwal against him and a local strongman for allegedly threatening him. An all-India organisation, the Marwari Sammelan has influence in the area.

“There are over one lakh Marwari voters in Dhanbad. We wrote to state BJP chief Babulal Marandi that Mahato’s candidature has shocked many, and that there will be an environment of fear if he is elected… but to no avail,” Agarwal told The Indian Express, adding that he will campaign for NOTA.

Saryu Roy, who had defeated incumbent BJP chief minister Raghubar Das in the last Assembly elections as an Independent after quitting the party, has held multiple press conferences since Mahato’s ticket was announced.

Mahato is facing the Congress’s debutante candidate Anupama Singh, the wife of Bermo MLA Kumar Jaimangal, in Dhanbad.

A Dhanbad BJP leader told The Indian Express: “The BJP is doing a lot of social engineering, but this is creating new faultlines. The business class, who are traditionally BJP voters, may look for other options because of Mahato.”

The Dhanbad Lok Sabha constituency has six Assembly segments. The BJP had won five in the 2019 Assembly polls.

Babulal Marandi’s political advisor Sunil Tiwary defended the choice of Mahato, saying: “There are criminal cases against Babulal Marandi,

Hemant Soren, Godda MP Nishikant Dubey and others. Criminal cases do not decide the winnability of any candidate, as some of them are political cases too… Mahato is a local, and will get the necessary votes.”

In Singhbhum, BJP candidate Geeta Koda, who recently defected from the Congress, is facing vociferous protests from the INDIA coalition but also resentment within BJP ranks. Recently, JMM workers, reportedly supporters of its candidate and state minister Jobha Manjhi, blocked roads to prevent Koda’s entry into several villages, resulting in a scuffle and filing of three FIRs, invoking charges of assault, attempt
to murder and SC/ST Act.

The BJP is banking on Koda’s credibility and outreach in a seat where it hadn’t won any of the six segments in the 2019 Assembly polls. However, local workers have not forgotten that in 2019, Koda, then the Congress candidate, had defeated the BJP’s Laxman Giluwa by nearly 80,000 votes.

Besides, one of the winning MLAs from the segments falling under Singhbhum is Chief Minister Champai Soren, which could tilt the scales in favour of the INDIA coalition.

A local BJP insider said: “Despite all the hiccups, Koda should trump Manjhi, unless the Hemant Soren issue does us some damage, as it would consolidate the tribal vote.”

In Hazaribagh, the BJP ticket has gone to local MLA Manish Jaiswal, overriding two-time MP Jayant Sinha, the son of former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, who was the Opposition’s presidential candidate in 2022.

Jaiswal is facing Jai Prakash Bhai Patel of the Congress, who deserted the BJP earlier this year. Patel, the son of JMM co-founder Tek Lal Mahato, belongs to the Kudmi Mahato caste. Kudmis dominate the Ramgarh and Mandu Assembly segments under the Lok Sabha seat. A source in Hazaribagh said there will be a “tight contest”, considering the caste equations and Yashwant Sinha’s own votes in the constituency.

The BJP is also facing neck-and-neck contests in two other Lok Sabha seats – Lohardaga and Khunti – where the victory margins of its candidates in 2019 were thin. While Union Tribal Affairs and Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda, who had won Khunti by 1,445 votes, has been repeated, the party has gone for a new face in Lohardaga,
which it had won by less than 10,000 votes in 2019.

In Dumka, the BJP has fielded JMM patriarch Shibu Soren’s daughter-in-law Sita Soren, the Jama MLA who recently defected to the BJP. In 2019, the BJP’s Sunil Soren had won Dumka by around 47,000 votes. It is to be seen if Hemant Soren’s arrest has an impact in Dumka, which was considered the JMM’s fortress till 2019.

In Palamu, two-time sitting MP V D Ram faces an RJD candidate, representing the INDIA. Although locals don’t seem to like Ram, he has been banking on PM Modi’s popularity here. This year, Ram will have it easier as a BSP candidate is expected to cut into the RJD’s votes.

For the BJP, the seats considered “safe” are Godda, Koderma, Ranchi and Jamshedpur.

The JMM’s Vijay Hansda has won Rajmahal twice, turning it into a “safe” seat for the party. But the BJP is trying hard this time to make the corruption allegation against Hemant Soren’s constituency representative Pankaj Mishra, stick. The ED arrested Mishra for illegal stone crushing in Sahibganj, which falls under the Rajmahal Lok Sabha constituency.