In Jharkhand, BJP returns to Babulal Marandi, hopes to woo tribals back

While Marandi claims the BJP has made “significant growth” in the tribal state since his reinduction, other party leaders are not so sure, as the BJP has lost four by-elections, including in two ST seats, since then. Its only win was in the recent Ramgarh bypoll, necessitated due to sitting Congress MLA Mamata Devi’s conviction in a case.

Thanking the central leadership for his appointment, Marandi said he would work to strengthen the BJP as an organisation. “The people of Jharkhand know me… The BJP faces challenges, and we will face them with the help of the people,” he said, adding that the BJP aimed to win 14 out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

A source close to Marandi said that with this choice, the BJP has directly taken on Chief Minister and JMM chief Hemant Soren. “It is now a Santhali vs Santhali contest, as Soren and Marandi both belong to the tribal community. A narrative was propagated that the BJP was never serious about tribal voters, and that Marandi had been re-inducted only to misguide them. This notion will not hold now.”

After coming to power in 2014, the BJP had chosen a non-tribal, Raghubar Das, as its CM. One reason for the BJP’s 2019 loss was Das’s failure to rally tribals around the party. Of the 28 seats (out of total 81 in the Jharkhand Assembly) reserved for tribals, the BJP had won only two in 2019.

Sources said the BJP, which hopes to reverse this slide in tribal areas, is set to give Marandi a free hand, and he will be travelling to all the 280-plus blocks in the next one-and-a-half years before the Assembly polls.

BJP leaders took potshots at the JMM government Tuesday for having denied Marandi Leader of Opposition status, pending a disqualification plea being heard by the Speaker. After Marandi merged his JVM(P) with the BJP, with two MLAs joining the Congress, the JMM-led ruling coalition had sought his disqualification over defection laws. The Speaker is yet to decide on the plea.

A BJP source said that by not giving him LoP status, the Hemant Soren government had ended up creating “a parallel leader” in Marandi, and that he was set to use that now to his fullest advantage.

Marandi earlier told The Indian Express that not being LoP hampered his functioning in the Assembly. “Na idhar ke rehne diya, na udhar ke (I was left dangling in between). It is not in my nature to scream here and there in the Assembly,” he had said.

Sources said one of the first things on Marandi’s table was making the “armchair politicians” in the BJP hit the ground.