Cong top brass meet Hemant over Rajya Sabha polls, no clarity on seat-sharing yet

Ranchi: Political parleys within the coalition partners of the incumbent govt for the ensuing Rajya Sabha polls in the state intensified on Friday after Congress’s Jharkhand affairs in-charge K Raju met with chief minister Hemant Soren at his residence to stake claim to one seat out of two in favour of the grand old party.

Raju, accompanied by Telangana deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, state party president Keshav Mahto Kamlesh held a closed-door meeting for two hours.

Speaking outside the CM house, Raju said, “The meeting was positive. We have apprised Hemant about our party’s views. Efforts are on to ensure that JMM-Congress-RJD alliance prop up collective candidates on both seats and make them win to stop BJP. The CM has told us that he will let his decision know in next two days.”

Neither JMM nor Congress has named any candidate so far though several names are doing the rounds. It is also not clear whether JMM, which is leading the alliance govt would spare one seat to Congress or not.

JMM spokesperson Manoj Pandey said, “Our party president will take final regarding candidates and other modalities.”

Polling for the two RS seats will take place on June 18 while the nomination process will commence from June 1. One seat had fallen vacant last year after the demise of JMM’s Shibu Soren, and on another, the term of BJP’s Deepak Prakash is ending.

On the other hand, Opposition BJP too has announced to field a candidate on one seat though numbers don’t favour the NDA camp.

With 56 MLAs in its fold, the ruling alliance would easily sail through both the seats. However, entry of third candidate would turn the battle on second seat interesting with chances of cross-voting and possibilities of horse-trading. A few days back, JMM had also written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) accusing BJP of trying to induce MLAs.

Meanwhile, Raju along with Vikramarka also held extensive consultations with party MLAs, MPs and other senior workers separately at the state guest house to seek their feedback on possible candidates for further modalities.