With three candidates in the fray for Jharkhand’s upcoming Rajya Sabha polls for two vacant berths and no party having the winning numbers, the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress are now using the forthcoming Assembly bypoll for Hatia to win over their sulking allies.
The BJP, which has resisted pressure from ally JMM to withdraw its candidate and senior leader S.S. Ahluwalia, is reportedly considering a plan to support the crucial ruling ally AJSU’s candidate for the Hatia Assembly bypoll in exchange for the AJSU’s support for Ahluwalia. In that event, the BJP will not field any candidate for the bypoll slated for June 12. The AJSU, which has five MLAs and is headed by deputy chief minister Sudesh Mahto, has remained undecided about whether to support the BJP or the JMM in the May 3 RS polls.
Both the main ruling parties, each having only 18 MLAs, have been ardently seeking the AJSU’s support. But the AJSU, despite its apparent leaning towards the JMM, has remained noncommittal so far.
Sources in the AJSU said Sudesh Mahto would love to take the BJP’s offer, if it is formally made, because it will give the small regional party an opportunity to raise its number of MLAs to six. AJSU leaders said for the BJP, which had started preparing for the Hatia Assembly bypoll, such an offer would be a “major sacrifice for a small ally”.
The Congress, whose chances in the RS polls have sunk into uncertainty following its ally JVM’s decision of abstention from the polls, also reportedly began discussing a similar offer. Sources said the Congress, which had so far insisted on fielding its own candidate for the Hatia bypoll, can now support the JVM’s candidate in exchange for JVM chief Babulal Marandi’s assurance that the regional party will support Congress RS candidate Pradip Kumar Balmuchu.
Chief minister Arjun Munda and deputy chief ministers Sudesh Mahto of the AJSU and Hemant Soren of the JMM are likely to hold a meeting with BJP national president Nitin Gadkari in Delhi on Monday.