Beware BJP, JVM is top of the pops

Ranchi, Aug. 3: No mid-term elections are in sight in Jharkhand, but the political cauldron is churning here with Babulal Marandi managing to wean away leaders from rival parties ever since his JVM upset the BJP in stunning fashion in the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha by-election.

If former BJP MLA Dinesh Sarangi joined the JVM at Baharagora today, former JMM MLA from Chakradharpur Sukhram Oraon and his wife will be joining them on August 10, a day before former BJP MP Shailendra Mahto will join the party in Ranchi.

"JVM is going from strength to strength and is emerging as one of the strongest parties," Sarangi said soon after his formal induction today. And Marandi minced no words either.

"I foresee an exodus of leaders from the BJP and JMM," he said in his address to the gathering.

Clearly, JVM's victory in the Jamshedpur by-election that saw its nominee, Ajoy Kumar, win by a record margin of over 1.55 lakh votes, has made it the favourite destination of politicians who are sore over bad deals meted out to them by their parent parties.

JVM general secretary Pravin Singh refused to name names of those in line.
"We are banking on two sets of leaders. The first category will be those with experience who will help us strengthen the party. Secondly, we are inducting young and energetic leaders whom we will field as party candidates in the future," he pointed out.
Ruling parties BJP and JMM should naturally be worried. But both put up a brave front.

"Only two leaders, Sarangi and Sanjay Seth, have crossed over to the JVM. But a large number of leaders from other parties have applied for joining us," claimed state BJP president Dineshanand Goswami.

He revealed that while former Ramgarh MLA and JVM leader Shankar Chaudhary joined the BJP recently, former RJD president and former MLA Yogendra Baitha was joining the BJP on August 13 at a function in Simaria.

"At least two dozen leaders from various parties, including the JVM, have applied for joining the BJP. So, it is wrong to say that the BJP is loosing its support base to the JVM," Goswami maintained.

About Sarangi joining the JVM, another senior BJP leader explained that he was unhappy after the party denied him the Jamshedpur ticket. He feared he may also be denied an Assembly ticket if there was a pre-poll alliance between the BJP and JMM in the next state elections.
The JMM is holding a rally in Chakradharpur on August 9 in a move to stem the tide of defections. "The purpose is to welcome a number of Jharkhand movement activists into the party fold," pointed out Supriyo Bhattacharya, a member of the JMM core committee, denying the rally was preventive measure.

Bhattacharya pointed out the JMM was a political party not bound by ideology. "Rather, it has survived on sentimental issues of the Jharkhand movement and jal, jungle and jameen," he said.

The rally, Bhattacharya said, was a fresh beginning to go back to the people and organise a movement to ensure basic rights of the people.

That may be so, but within the government the JMM is already flexing its muscles. After raking up the issue of chief minister by rotation last month, party chief Shibu Soren today shot off a letter to chief minister Arjun Munda, alleging that the human resources development department was discriminating against the Muslim community.

The president of the JMM, which holds charge of minority welfare, said a community couldn't develop without education. "The HRD department is intentionally creating obstacles in the implementation of the programmes related to minority education," he wrote in his two page letter.

Munda acted fast, indicating he wasn't willing to let niggling issues among allies fester. The chief minister directed the HRD department to identify and fill up vacancies of Urdu teachers in government schools and teachers in minority institutions.

At a meeting with minority welfare minister Haji Hussain Ansari, he also directed officials to release grants due to such institutions.

Coalition politics has been the norm ever since Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar on 15 November, 2000, with no party getting a clear majority. The state has so far seen eight governments in the last 11 years, besides two spells of President's rule.