Ranchi, Oct 20: Expressing its disappointment with the JMM and Congress over seat-sharing for the Jharkhand assembly polls, the Lalu Prasad-led RJD on Sunday said it would not settle for less than 12 constituencies, but would not sabotage the prospects of the INDIA bloc even if it goes solo.
The JMM and Congress on Saturday announced that the two parties would contest 70 of the state’s 81 assembly seats, leaving the rest for their allies, including the RJD.
“Less than 12-13 seats are not acceptable to us as the RJD has a strong hold on 18-20 seats. If we are asked to contest three-four seats, we are not ready to make any sacrifices,” Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) spokesperson Manoj Kumar Jha said.
“Our sole aim is to defeat BJP, we will not sabotage the INDIA bloc,” he said.
Jha, a Rajya Sabha MP, said even if the party decided to go solo in the elections, it would extend support to INDIA bloc candidates on 60-62 seats.
Last time, RJD contested seven seats and won one. Its MLA Satyanand Bhokta is a minister in the Hemant Soren cabinet.
Jha said the turn of events “pained” him as his party was not consulted despite the sacrifices made during the 2019 elections when it agreed to contest seven seats.
“We had withdrawn our candidates from several seats despite distributing symbols to them at the instance of our national president (Lalu Prasad)… We contested only seven seats and ended as runner-up in five of them with small margins… There have been no corruption charges against our lone minister Satyanand Bhokta here,” he said.
Jha said the RJD played a crucial role in the formation of the INDIA bloc and was also instrumental in making Hemant Soren the chief minister of Jharkhand.
“We are natural opponents of the BJP. We accepted jail for our leaders instead of bowing down… Jharkhand and Bihar share a special bond and we expected a respectable share. We had cordial talks with the CM but despite that a unilateral decision was made in seat-sharing which is neither acceptable to our workers nor leaders,” he said.
Maintaining that their sentiments were ignored, Jha said a decision on the number of seats RJD would contest will be made public on Monday as the “party will not allow its boat to sink”.
Polling will be held in Jharkhand on November 13 and 20, and the votes will be counted on November 23.
Jha said senior RJD leaders, including Leader of Opposition in Bihar assembly Tejashwi Yadav, were in Ranchi and held a meeting over the issue.
In 2019, the JMM-led alliance won 47 seats, snatching power from the BJP in the state. JMM had won 30 seats, while the Congress bagged 16, apart from the one seat bagged by the RJD.
The BJP had secured 25 seats, JVM-P three, AJSU Party two, and CPI-ML and NCP one each, besides two Independents emerging victorious.
Kalpana Soren ‘dares’ BJP to support Sarna code, 27 pc quota for OBCs
Claiming that the people of Jharkhand have realised the BJP has hurt their dignity, JMM MLA Kalpana Soren on Sunday “dared” the state’s opposition party to lend support to the demands of the Sarna religious code, and 27 per cent reservation for OBCs.
Addressing an election rally in Tundi in Dhanbad district, she said the people of Jharkhand will no longer fall for the “false promises” of the BJP.
“If the BJP has the guts, it should stand for tribal rights such as the Sarna religious code, and recruitment policy, and 27 per cent reservation for OBCs,” said Soren.
“BJP’s attempt to mislead will cost it heavily as the people of Jharkhand have woken up and realised that the party has snatched their rights and hurt their dignity,” she added.
Asserting that her husband, Chief Minister Hemant Soren, was fighting tirelessly for the rights of tribals, OBCs and women, she also questioned the BJP about the state’s coal royalty dues of Rs 1.36 lakh crore from the Centre.
Soren asserted that if it returns to power, the JMM would “take” the money from the Centre.
She listed the social welfare schemes announced by the JMM-led government and said Hemant Soren was the first chief minister of the state who thought about women’s empowerment.
Polling in the state will be held on November 13 and November 20, and the votes will be counted on November 23. (PTI)
