'We Are Pained': BJP Grapples With Internal Strife Over Jharkhand Candidate List

Discontent was brewing within the opposition BJP in Jharkhand with several of its leaders, including an incumbent legislator and three former MLAs, switching sides ahead of the assembly polls, expressing their disappointment over the candidates' list of the party.

Among their grievances was the BJP "ignoring" its own rank and file, and giving nominations to leaders who came from other parties ahead of the elections. Polling for the 81-member assembly will be held on November 13 and November 20, and the votes will be counted on November 23. "We are pained. If you see the list, the party has reposed faith in those who joined the BJP from other parties, ignoring its own dedicated workers.

Of the 66 candidates declared so far, more than half are those who came from other parties," a BJP leader said. The turncoats who got a BJP nomination were former CM Champai Soren, his son Babulal Soren, Lobin Hembrom, Ganga Narayan, Manju Devi, Geeta Kora, Sita Soren and Ramchandra Chandravanshi, among others. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is the co-incharge for the assembly polls in Jharkhand, dismissed that there was any major discontentment within the party, maintaining that some resentment after the release of the candidates' list was natural as BJP was a big political party.

Sarma said he would meet the disgruntled leaders. A slew of BJP leaders, including ex-MLAs Lois Marandi, Kunal Sarangi and Lakshman Tudu, joined the JMM on Monday. Last week, three-term BJP MLA Kedar Hazra and its ally AJSU Party's Umakant Rajak also switched to the ruling party. "Nobody in BJP was even bothered to give me a call. They shortlisted me for the Jamshedpur seat during the Lok Sabha elections but a ticket was denied. It's a basic courtesy that they give me a call. It pained me a lot, especially when I quit a cosy job abroad and came to India to serve society. I tried to reach all the important people... but nobody bothered and even tried to find out what is wrong," Sarangi told PTI.

He resigned from the primary membership of the BJP in July. Marandi, a former minister, said it was "painful" to part ways with BJP after serving it for 24 years. "The BJP in 2014 scripted a historic win in Dumka, which was considered a JMM bastion. But it honoured the women who are brought to the party from outside and not those who dedicated their entire life for them," she said.

In 2014, she defeated Chief Minister Hemant Soren by a margin of 5,262 votes in Dumka but lost to him in 2019 by around 13,000 votes. She lost the 2020 by-election as well to JMM's Basant Soren as the CM vacated the seat to retain Barhait. "BJP wanted me to contest from Barhait, which was a new seat for me. I was denied my seat," Marandi said.

The BJP named Sunil Soren in the Dumka assembly seat. Hazra, who won the Jamua seat in 2019 by defeating Congress' Manju Kumari, said though he served the BJP for three decades, he felt neglected. He switched sides as the Congress MLA joined the BJP and was given a ticket. Tudu, who in 2014 had defeated JMM's Ramdas Soren in Ghatshila, said he felt "alienated" in the BJP.

The BJP, however, exuded confidence about winning the elections. It was contesting 68 of the 81 seats, leaving the rest for its allies. Taking a dig at the opposition party's candidates' list, the JMM said there were only 35 people from the BJP on it. A total of 2.60 crore people are eligible to vote in the elections. In 2019, the JMM-led alliance won 47 seats, wresting power from the BJP. The BJP had secured 25 seats, JVM-P three, AJSU Party two, and the CPI-ML and NCP one each, besides two Independents emerging victorious.