JMM karyakartas want party to contest in bulk of LS seats

RANCHI: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's (JMM) cadres and karyakartas across 11 out of 24 districts requested the party's central leadership to stake claim to the biggest chunk of 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state for next year's elections.

The clamour for laying claims to the biggest chunk of seats within the JMM comes as the opposition's INDIA bloc prepares for state-specific seat-sharing talks later this year.

Office-bearers of the JMM's district committees in Ramgarh, Latehar, Palamu, Garhwa, Chatra, Koderma, Gumla, Lohardaga, East and West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan have told their central leadership that the outfit, based on their current organisational strengths, must contest in a minimum of eight out of 14 seats in the state. Notably, the JMM had contested in Rajmahal, Dumka, Giridih and Jamshedpur seats in 2019.

The Congress had fielded candidates in seven seats, while JVM-P and the RJD contested in two seats each. While JMM retained Rajmahal, the Mahagatbandhan bagged two seats in all as Congress won Singhbhum.

"Our cadres and karyakartas are expressing their viewpoints and sentiments during the ongoing district wise review-meetings. Their points are being noted down and will be placed before the party's central executive committee when it sits for discussing on Lok Sabha poll preparations next," Vinod Kumar Pandey, JMM's general secretary, said.

Hemlal Kumar Mehta, the secretary of Ranchi district committee of the party, said: "Our karyakartas are enthusiastic and confident. Our prospects in Ranchi Lok Sabha seat are also promising and we are confident of winning if the seat comes to our kitty."

Pandey said the demands of their workers would be raised at the joint forum of INDIA alliance when seat-sharing talks begin. The JMM office-bearer, however, indicated that the tribal party would aim to bag more seats in the state than Congress. "We are the big brother in Jharkhand, while Congress is the big brother nationally, make no mistake about it," he said.

Pandey said review meetings of its district committees will continue next month as well. "The ongoing membership drive, formation of block, panchayat and booth committees are being discussed. Likewise, our workers are also being tasked with collecting feedback from the people on the state government's schemes," he added.