After much of stalemate, Congress State president Sukhdeo Bhagat filed his nomination on Thursday for the lohardaga Assembly by-poll. Though no leader from any other party was present on the occasion Bhagat managed to bring some of his rivals in his favour at crucial juncture.
Apart from MlA of the party Badal Patralekh and host of former legislators namely KN Tripathi, Banna Gupta, Sarfaraz Ahmad, Saurabh Narayan Singh notable presence remained in the form of Rajya Sabha MP Dheeraj Sahu and SC/ST Commission Chairperson Rameshwar Oraon.
“It remained the biggest achievement for the party that the leaders considered rivals of the PCC chief came supporting his candidature from lohardaga. The message has gone out for the workers and that is loud and clear now. The entire party would work to ensure thumping win of Sukhdeo Bhagat,” said State Congress general secretary Alok Kumar Dubey after the nomination was filed in four sets before the Returning Officer at lohardaga.
Sahu and Oraon have been the members of vocal anti-Bhagat lobby which is led by former JPCC president and incumbent Rajya Sabha member Pradeep Balmuchu. Having considerable presence and influence on the voters of lohardaga the support of the rival faction was said to be crucial for the present PCC chief to sail through. Notably Bhagat is fighting a battle of his political survival in Jharkhand following his two back to back defeats from the seat, though narrowly by 600-odd votes.
Besides bringing his own house in order, Bhagat was also desperate for the JMM’s support in his favour. Though the Shibu Soren-led party announced not to field any candidate in the by-poll, but has not come out in open supporting the Congress. The party has reserved its call for “an appropriate time”.
“The JMM’s decision for not fielding a candidate is a very positive sign (about JMM’s support to the Congress). We have full expectation that it would come out in open support of the Congress in few days and the party would make a formal announcement about this,” said Sukhdeo Bhagat after filing his nomination papers.
Party sources say that role of senior leadership is going to be crucial for ensuring win for the PCC chief. “We are planning big rallies of our central leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. AICC member and party’s Jharkhand in-charge BK Hariprasad would coordinate with the JMM leadership,” said a senior leader.
With this, Bhagat would be up against NDA’s Neeru Shanti Bhagat and JVM’s Bandhu Tirkey. Former BJP legislator from the constituency Ramesh Oraon who had filed as an unofficial candidate of the party announced to withdraw his nomination after meeting Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Thursday.
All the nomination papers would be scrutinised on November 27 while till November 30 the names can be withdrawn for the December 14election.