Jharkhand: BJP issues first list of 52 candidates; 10 MLAs benched

RANCHI: Chief minister Raghubar Das and state BJP chief Laxman Gilua were part of the 52 candidates first list declared by the party's central leadership in New Delhi on Sunday as part of the saffron party's target to retain power in the five-phase Jharkhand assembly election scheduled to start from November 30.
While Das, who is leading BJP fight with slogan Ghar ghar Raghubar, is expected to retain home constituency of Jamshespur (East) easily, Gilua will again try to bag the Chakradharpur seat, which gave up to fight the Lok Sabha polls in 2014.He will be locking horns with sitting MLA of JMM Shashi Bhushan Samad. The first list of the BJP was also released with 30 sitting MLAs being retained while benching 10 others and awarding five turncoats.
Of the turncoats rewarded by BJP included Kunal Sarangi of JMM fielded from the Baharagora seat, Manoj Yadav of Congress from the Barhi, Prakash Ram of JVM-P from Latehar, J P Patel of JMM from Mandu and Bhanu Pratap Sahi of Naujawan Sangharsh Morcha (NSM) from the Bhawanathpur seat. The name of Sukhdeo Bhagat, the sitting MLA of Lohardaga did not figure in the first list. Bhagat had won on a Congress ticket and switched allegiance to BJP recently. He is considered a strong contender for the Lohardaga seat but owing to the pending decision on BJP and its junior ally Ajsu Party on seat sharing, the fate of Bhagat hangs in balance.
Among the 10 sitting MLAs shown the door included Tala Marandi in Borio assembly segment.