Political wheel in Jharkhand is all set for a paradigm swing once again. The party established by State's first Chief Minister, then a stalwart of the BJP, JVM is solely but surely making itself ready for a merger with the Congress.
Political insiders with the firm inputs suggest that the plan is already on the table and it is now just a matter of time when the 12-year-old party, left only with two MlAs, would merge into the Congress.
“The plot is being readied for quite some time. It started getting replicated with Dr Ajoy Kumar, a former JVM leader and MP, sent as Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee chief. He has been assigned with the specific task to smoothen the merger plan,” said a senior leader of the Congress.
Information creeping in also suggests that the process of merger has reached an important juncture and formal announcement may happen within three-four months. “It has been agreed by and large and the final call on the agreement would take place between the parties after a formal meeting of Babulal Marandi with top Congress brass in Delhi. The former Chief Minister would be projected as face of the Congress ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections,” said a source from Delhi.
Though no one in JVM is ready to come on the record on this issue but there is strong sense flowing inside in the support of such an idea as the party is left with the only way to go, especially looking at previous turn of events when the MlAs after getting elected on the JVM ticket have crossed over for various reasons. Its position has deteriorated even further since Nitish Kumar joining the NDA camp.
“The feeling is certainly there. Even if we perform our best in the next election the party is not in a position to form Government on its own. The JVM workers have gut feeling that Babulal Marandi should be the next Chief Minister of the State. And for that we have to garner sufficient seats on our own. Coalition would not help since the JMM is not going to accept Marandi as Chief Minister. Now when the Congress is ready for that then the idea holds water,” said a senior party leader.
As far as Congress is concerned, the national party is also looking for a credible face with pan-Jharkhand presence and acceptability. “Ajoy Kumar’s entry in the State is important in the given circumstances. If the party wants to cash in on the dissatisfaction growing against the BJP then we need a credible face. Babulal Marandi fits into our scheme of things,” said a close aide of the former Jamshedpur MP.
Ajoy Kumar after working for 3-4 years had not long ago quit the JVM to join the Congress where he went on to to become AICC spokesperson. More importantly still he furnishes good rapport with Marandi and his party workers and office bearers.
Recent activities have also indicated in that direction when the both parties have come even closer in course of their public appearances and staged agitations together on identical subjects.