Senior leaders and workers of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the largest party in the State Assembly, have expressed the desire to unanimously back party patriarch Shibu Soren as one of the candidates from the UPA fold for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Jharkhand, JMM General Secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said on Wednesday.
“Most of the party workers and many senior leaders of JMM want Guruji to contest the Rajya Sabha elections this time. A decision regarding this will be taken soon,” Bhattacharya told this newspaper. He added that JMM and Congress party may nominate one candidate each for the two Rajya Sabha seats.
While Shibu Soren is likely to be JMM’s candidate, Congress party will take a call on its candidate for the election after getting a nod from the party high command. “We will take a decision only after getting a nod from the high command.
After the high command gives us a go-ahead on the candidates, we will have a meeting with other UPA partners in Jharkhand and take a decision,” said Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) Spokesperson Lal Kishorenath Shahdeo.
One of the veterans of Jharkhand Movement, senior Soren lost to Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Sunil Soren in Dumka – a JMM stronghold – during the Lok Sabha elections held last year.
The three-time Chief Minister is looked up to by all members of the political fraternity here irrespective of party lines and ideologies. However, the 76-year-old is battling health concerns due to ageing and has been frail lately, sources from the party said.
JMM has yet not pondered upon any other candidate for the elections, party sources said.
However, while JMM leaders are open to the idea of nominating only one candidate, insiders from the Congress party said that the latter might think of nominating two candidates from Jharkhand – a decision that may trigger differences between the two of the three partners in the coalition Government here.
JMM has 29 seats in the 81-member Assembly, while Congress party has 16 seats. The third partner, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has only one legislator in Jharkhand. BJP, the second largest party in the Assembly, has 25 legislators.
Elections will be held for two of six Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand, currently occupied by BJP’s Parimal Nathwani and RJD’s Prem Chand Gupta, this year.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has on Tuesday announced that the elections for the two seats in Jharkhand will be held on March 26.