RLD and LJP (RV) demand seats from BJP for Jharkhand Assembly elections, which has put BJP in a tough position.
New Delhi: Ahead of the high stakes Assembly elections in Jharkhand, the political atmosphere in the state has intensified with both Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) claiming seats from the BJP. According to RLD, led by Union Minister Jayant Chaudhary, who recently entered into the political contest in Jammu Kashmir Assembly elections, is keen to contest on 20 seats in Jharkhand. RLD General Secretary Trilok Tyagi said that the party is keen to contest on 20-22 seats and that they are in touch with their NDA partners.
“We are in an alliance with the NDA at the centre and we expect that our demands for 20 seats in Jharkhand would be considered. We are hopeful that there will be alliance between RLD and BJP in Jharkhand as well. But if we don’t get respectable seats, we might contest alone”, he added.
He added that they’ve have spoken to Jharkhand BJP President Babulal Marandi who is also the former chief minister of the state but they’ve not yet received any confirmation.
Similarly, LJP (RV) is also keen to contest in the upcoming Jharkhand elections claiming that they have a strong presence on 32 to 34 seats. LJP (RV) Chief Chirag Paswan, last week said that his party would contest the Assembly elections in Jharkhand, and that all options were being explored, including forming an alliance or going solo for it.
His comments came after Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is the BJP’s election co-in-charge for Jharkhand, said his party would contest the polls in alliance with AJSU and JDU.
LJP (RV) State President Virendra Pradhan said, “We have a strong presence on almost 34 seats. Chirag Paswan has already announced that all options are being explored. If we do not get respectable number of seats, we might contest alone.”
Sources in the LJP (RV) argue that they are keen to get the same number of seats as that of JDU.
JDU led by Bihar’s CM Nitish Kumar is keen to contest on a dozen seats, but are primarily focusing on three to four seats.
While RLD, LJP and JDU are all a constituent of the NDA, it seems that the arrangement on the contentious seat sharing issue is stalled. BJP is not confident in its alliance with AJSU and JDU but is remaining tight-lipped about its possible alliance with the other two parties. It is pertinent to note that in 2019 Jharkhand Assembly elections, BJP won 25 seats out of a total of 81, while JMM emerged at the top with 30 seats, while Congress got 16.
This time, the political contest has become fierce after the results of the Lok Sabha elections. In Jharkhand, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance secured nine out of the 14 seats, with the BJP winning eight and its alliance partner, AJSU, retaining its single seat. This outcome mirrored the nationwide decline in the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
Similarly, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who got bail in a money laundering case linked to a land scam in July, is likely to garner sympathy votes.