Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) chief Babulal Marandi is not going to forge any pre-poll pact either with Federal Front led by Mamata Banerjee or the Third Front, being spearheaded by left’s Prakash Karat.
Marandi also remained non-committal on his choice for the Third Front, where Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is an important player vis a vis Federal Front. Both Mamata and Nitish’s JD (U) have vote base in some pockets in the State. He has had parley with Mamata in the past and also attended the first meeting convened by the Third Front. But he has skipped last two meetings of the Third Front on some ground or the other.
“All I want is that there should not be any split in the anti-BJP and anti-Congress votes. There should not be any confusion in it. All the parties, which are constituents of these fronts, should stick to their stronghold. For example, you can’t write off Nitish Kumar in Bihar and for that matter Mulayam Singh Yadav in UP,” he told The Pioneer.
“The JVM has struggled for five years in Jharkhand. I have travelled over 95,000 km in the State in the last two years preparing ground for the JVM. So, how can I be convinced not to fight all the 14 seatsIJ” he asked. “The best possible way out is that the all these parties extend their support to the JVM, say at 10 seats and go for the friendly fight in the rest of four seats in the forthcoming elections,” said Marandi, a former BJP man.
He also maintained that there should not be any confusion with regards to the prime ministerial candidate for the alternative front. “There may be several claimants before the elections, but finally all the constituents will zero in on one candidate after polls,” he maintained. The former Chief Minister said that Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the most popular leader in 2004 and yet the BJP lost the elections. “Again in 2009, lK Advani was declared the prime ministerial candidate and he too was very popular. So, the BJP can’t take credit for clarity on prime ministerial candidate,” he added.
Supporting Arvind Kejriwal’s tirade against Mukesh Ambani, Marandi said that both the Congress and the BJP have no answer to the charges of levelled by the Aam Aadmi Party, which shows that both the parties have similar view on the economic policy to work out gas prices.
On the prospects of the ruling combine, Marandi said that both the JMM and the Congress will be fighting a lost game in the parliamentary elections in the State. “They are not going to open even their account. The actual fight will be between the BJP and JVM,” he asserted.
He refused to accept that there is any wave in favour of Narendra Modi. “If it is so why did the BJP forge alliance with Ram Vilas Paswan in Bihar or still hunting partners in other StatesIJ” he asked. The former CM was not ready to accept the perception that the electorate will prefer the BJP in the lok Sabha elections for the sake of stability.
“If we look back, Jharkhand Party, a regional party, has been representing lok Sabha seats like Khunti and Chaibasa since 1952. People forget the reason behind origin of regional parties and denigrate them. They have taken birth since the national parties like the BJP and Congress have failed to address the issues of public. So, we should leave the verdict to the wisdom of the public instead of making any speculations for their choice in the lok Sabha elections,” he pointed out.
Marandi said he has been fighting the lok Sabha elections since 1991 so he has expressed his desire to contest the assembly elections this time and not the parliamentary polls. “Now, it is for the part to decide about my position. Even if the party wants me to contest, I will not be contesting from Koderma,” he signed off.