Ranchi. The conflict between the two major constituents of the ruling alliance, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Congress, has come to the fore regarding the elections to be held on two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand. About 12 hours after Congress announced Pranab Jha’s candidature for a Rajya Sabha seat, JMM MLAs met in a meeting to agree to field their candidates on both the seats. The party MLAs have authorized the Chief Minister and JMM working president Hemant Soren to take the final decision in this matter. A meeting of JMM MLAs and senior leaders was held under the chairmanship of Hemant Soren at the Chief Minister’s residence on Friday. After the meeting, party leaders Yogendra Prasad and Hafeezul Hasan told the media that there was a unanimous opinion of all the MLAs that JMM should field candidates on both the Rajya Sabha seats. He said that the names of the candidates will be announced before June 8. JMM leaders said that being the largest political party in the state, the party has a natural claim on both the seats.
This stand of JMM has come to the fore at a time when Congress late on Thursday night declared AICC Secretary and political advisor of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge Pranab Jha as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections.
After the Congress announcement, it was believed that an agreement had been reached on seat sharing within the alliance, but the decision of the JMM meeting has overturned this assumption. With this, the long-running tussle and differences within the alliance have now come to the fore in public. Earlier, late on Thursday night, Congress had announced to make Pranab Jha the Rajya Sabha candidate from Jharkhand. Two days before the announcement of the candidate, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had talked to Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
Apart from this, Congress’s Jharkhand in-charge K. Raju and Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka had also reached Ranchi recently and met the Chief Minister and requested to give one Rajya Sabha seat to the Congress. Despite this, now with JMM staking claim on both the seats, the differences within the ruling coalition have been clearly exposed.
The ruling alliance in the Jharkhand Assembly has enough numerical strength to win both the seats, but this impasse over candidates is now raising questions on the unity of the alliance. While Congress is not showing any signs of backing down after the announcement of its candidate, JMM also seems to be in no mood to give up its claim on both the seats. This tussle between the two allies during the nomination process has become the biggest development in the state politics and now all eyes are on the next step of Hemant Soren and the Congress leadership.
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