Political gamesmanship begins in Jharkhand

BJP ebullient after Bhoomi Pujan, Congress broods firefighting, high-command sends Umang Singhar to Ranchi

By Ishwar Krishna Ojha

Jamshedpur: The political gamesmanship has kickstarted in Jharkhand. The political impact of Bhoomi Pujan of Shri Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is being assessed by all political parties in the state.

While Bhoomi Pujan has given a new impetus to the wings of BJP, Congress has started feeling the political pinch. BJP leaders feel that they are all set to reap the dividends of fulfilment of one of the biggest promises made by the party.

On the other hand, Congress is worried that BJP may try to unseat its alliance in Jharkhand too on the lines of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. It feels that Congress MLAs may be the most vulnerable in the state.

This is the reason why Congress high-command is paying a lot of attention to the state.

The moment the high-command got wind of some disgruntled elements getting active in the state unit, it launched some serious and immediate fire-fight.

The party leadership has sent the co-incharge of Jharkhand Congress, Umang Singhar to Jharkhand.

Although, factional infighting and disenchantment is not a new phenomenon for the state unit of the party, the campaign to target the state president of the party and the finance minister of the state Rameshwar Oraon has intensified in the recent days.

The issue of ‘one person, one post’ is being raised to create pressure on him.

Till date, three MLAs out of the total 15 belonging to Congress, namely Irfan Ansari, Umashankar Akela and Rajesh Kachchap have made trips to Delhi. These three are also being supported by MP Dheeraj Sahu.

When these disaffected MLAs reached New Delhi, the party leaders assessed the impact of their disaffection.

After seeking information from multiple sources, the party high command reached the conclusion that all efforts should be made to take the disaffected MLAs into confidence.

Umang Singhar has been sent to the state with this objective in mind.

Umang has been meeting party MLAs as well as other leaders since the time he landed here.

Sources say that these disaffected MLAs may be focusing on a minister’s post vacant in the state cabinet.

Sources say that this has been indicated to Mr. Umang too.

All eyes are now on the party high-command to see how it tackles the disaffected MLAs.

On the other hand, the BJP camp is full of self-confidence.

BJP leaders feel that the infighting within Congress would only deepen with time. They feel that it would be difficult for Congress leaders to keep their house intact for too long.

There are some in BJP who feel that September-October may be defining months for the polity of Jharkhand.