‘Hemant Soren, Congress differed on seat-sharing…Haryana results won’t impact Jharkhand polls’: Former state chief

How will the coalition government’s performance impact the upcoming polls?

Based on surveys and feedback from our active members, we have understood that our government’s schemes, such as pension and direct benefit transfers to women, have worked on the ground and people are happy.

During the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi’s “Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra” and his slogan to “Save the Constitution” resonated with the people. We also announced one Lok Sabha candidate’s name and then withdrew it, which did not go down well among various sections of society, so that gave us a certain learning of what we need to do. Based on our work and strategy, the Congress today is equipped to give a befitting reply to the BJP and we will come back to power.

But why are some Congress and CPI(ML) Liberation workers unhappy with the seat-sharing deal? In some seats, there seem to be “friendly fights” between the alliance partners, which may give an edge to the BJP.

The sad part is that ideology-based politics is out of fashion now. Everybody is worried about winnability, which is why people from the BJP and All-Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU) who were denied tickets have joined the JMM and will now contest the elections. From the JMM, (former CM) Champai Soren went to the BJP. In the Lok Sabha polls, one BJP candidate also joined the Congress. But there are certain compulsions to which we have to cater. Having said this, the blame for this goes straight to the BJP as it is the number one player in “tod jod ki politics”.

In the end whatever the resentment is among the alliance workers, it will wane as ultimately we have to work together for effective messaging and booth-level management.

It is said that the alliance negotiations had not started on a positive note with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal and Hemant Soren differing on various issues against the backdrop of the Congress’s loss in Haryana.

The Haryana elections do not have any bearing on Jharkhand. Any alliance goes through certain problems and we resolve it peacefully. The idea was to ensure that an alliance happens, lacking which we would not have been strong in Jharkhand. I try to find positive solutions from negative issues. For instance, after the RJD’s press conference, I told (RJD MP ) Manoj Jha that it was good that he put out his views as it would charge up RJD workers, which would help us win the elections.

Similarly, there were certain disagreements over seat-sharing between Hemant Soren and the Congress leadership, which led to introspection among both parties’ leaders, and we came out stronger.

How do you respond to the BJP’s attacks on the Soren government over corruption and dynastic and appeasement politics?

If we talk about new faces, the BJP has the highest number of dynastic candidates. To name a few, former Union minister Arjun Munda’s wife Meera; former CM Raghubar Das’s daughter-in-law Purnima Sahu; ex-CM Champai Soren’s son Babulal; AJSU MP Chandra Prakash Choudhary’s wife Sunita and brother Roshanlal; BJP MP Dhullu Mahato’s brother Satrughan; and BJP MLA Indrajit Mahato’s wife Tara Devi.

Barring jailed Congress leader Alamgir Alam’s wife Nishat, we have not given a single ticket to any new dynastic faces. The JMM has given the tickets to two candidates (who are family members) of MLAs who vacated their seats because they became MPs.

The BJP should not talk about corruption as Jharkhand’s first global investors’ summit (held under the previous BJP government in 2017) was mired in corruption allegations.

On appeasement politics, the BJP has been continuously saying that there is infiltration in the Santhal Pargana region, but the people are denying it. Even if they say so, isn’t the Union Ministry of Home Affairs accountable? This is a narrative to just polarise the electorate.

The Congress has also denied tickets to a few sitting party MLAs. One of them, Umashankar Akela, has alleged that the party demanded a Rs 2-crore “donation” for a ticket.

This is an absolutely false allegation. We did not give him the ticket because our survey and our ground-level workers said he was going to lose the seat.