Congress party’s Jharkhand In-charge RPN Singh on Friday marked the beginning of campaigning for the Assembly elections here by taking jibes at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over its weakening ties with its allies – a trend that has made its way to poll-bound Jharkhand after making the BJP grapple for a majority in Maharashtra and Haryana.
He blamed the BJP’s alleged arrogance for its severing ties with long term allies, and said that the party’s “arrogance” will eventually lead to its downfall. “We have seen what has happened in Maharashtra and Haryana.
And now, it is happening in Jharkhand too,” he said. The BJP severed its ties with Shiv Sena after a high voltage drama in Maharashtra recently. In Jharkhand, the party’s 19-year-old ally AJSU Party has been at loggerheads with the BJP over seat sharing in the alliance equation. On the other hand, the Congress party has joined hands with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) here. Singh on Friday said that the party will run joint campaigns along with JMM and RJD in Jharkhand. “Our posters and flexes too will have pictures of JMM and RJD leaders,” he said.
Singh, who has been on a crisis management mission since former State president Ajoy Kumar spilled the beans about infighting in the party here, decided to blame the former president of acting out of desperation for getting an election ticket. “The Congress party is run by its workers. There is no place for self-centered people in this organization,” said Singh.
Ironically, his statement on Friday came at a time when supporters of former Kanke Legislator Suresh Baitha were staging protests against the party for fielding former Director General of Police Rajiv Kumar—apolitical greenhorn- from the constituency. Singh dodged questions about Baitha’s fate and said that the party will stand in support of its workers. Under the leadership of former Seva Dal Chief Ghulam Javed, several Congress workers raised slogans against Singh and party’s State president Rameshwar Oraon outside Congress Bhavan on Friday to express their discontentment over fielding former Deputy Mayor Ajay Nath Shahdeo from Hatia. The Congress party will field candidates for 31 Assembly segments here as per the seat sharing equation of the UPA alliance.
The party, by now, has announced the names of 25 candidates and some of them are relatives of veteran Congress leaders. The party, however, has not named a Chief Ministerial face for Jharkhand and has decided to support JMM Executive President Hemant Soren as the CM face.
Taking jibes at the BJP, Singh said that starvation deaths, unemployment and lawlessness plagued Jharkhand under the NDA regime. The Congress party, he added, will take up these issues during the polls here.