New Delhi: Former Jharkhand chief minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) working president Hemant Soren, in a conversation with News18, said that the opposition alliance was confident of getting 13 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the tribal state up for grabs in the upcoming polls.
Though seat sharing equation has not been declared yet, Congress is expected to fight more number of seats than JMM with seven.
Opposition alliance in Jharkhand is likely to be publicly announced just before Holi, sources in JMM told News18. The announcement will most likely be made in presence of JMM patriarch Shibu Soren in Ranchi.
“We have been in alliance with Congress before and we have got 13 of the 14 seats during 2004 general elections. We don’t think this election will be any different,” Soren told News18.
Soren said that the issues like Supreme Court’s Forests Rights Act ruling, agrarian distress and unemployment will be the agendas on which the alliance will fight the elections. When asked whether party patriarch Shibu Soren will also be among opposition candidates, junior Soren replied in the affirmative.
Prioritising mining and land issues, Soren said,”Land issues are like bombs that will go off when it is time to vote. Right now many in the ruling party may not realise the significance of them and Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act, but their effects will be visible while people are casting their votes in ballot boxes,” Soren said.
On the issue of IAF strikes in Balakot and their effect, Soren said, “We were expecting something like this. Work of armed forces should be left to them. Politicians should not interfere with it. BJP leaders are likely to spread misinformation about this whole episode in order to hide their wrongdoings, but we are prepared. We won’t let them hide behind this.”
Soren termed Modi government’s farmer pension scheme as nothing but a source of humiliation for the farmers.
Sources also said that along with their alliance in Jharkhand, Congress-JMM have also tied up for one Lok Sabha seat in Odisha. The chosen constituency is Mayurbhanj. The two parties will also contest in 5-6 assembly seats. Hemant Soren’s sister Anjali is likely to be the united opposition’s candidate from the Mayurbhanj seat.
In his meeting with Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Hemant Soren is said to have asked for CPI’s addition in the Mahagathbandhan, given their “sizeable presence and history of Left politics with the state”. Sources close to the former CM of Jharkhand also said that he had suggested that the alliance should field at least one Muslim candidate, from Godda.
According to some, JMM adding the Left to the alliance could be ploy to use it as a counterweight to Congress’ back channel talks with the JVM.
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