New Delhi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren met Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge and senior party leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Tuesday because of the preparations for the assembly poll in Jharkhand to be held in the middle of November along with Maharashtra. The meeting Hemant Soren, his wife Kalandi Soren, who is an MLA, intended to deliberate on various issues affecting the forthcoming election and probably to seal seat-sharing deals that are personalised within the INDIA bloc affiliates.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), where Soren is one of the prominent leaders, is a very influential party in the state and is the flagship in forming the alliance with Congress and RJD. The JMM fought 43 assembly segments, Congress 31, and the RJD seven in the assembly polls in 2019, which helped them win 47 seats to get a simple majority in the 81-member assembly. While JMM tasted victory in 30 seats, Congress won 16 seats, and RJD got only one seat.
But this time the dynamics may be different as all the three alliance partners are keen to bag more of the seats. The JMM wants to contest at least three to four more seats and Congress wants 33 – two more than it won in 2019. The RJD, on its part, has announced its claim over 22 seats which is much higher than the earlier tally allotted to it.
The meeting in Delhi also pondered over the idea of including the Left parties in the massive INDIA alliance, which can again shift the balance of seat sharing. Informed insiders reveal that several constituencies may experience candidate substitution because of changes in political and grassroots circumstances. Few seats will be readjusted, on which Congress and RJD legislatures are likely to switch their loyalty to the BJP, and the ability to win these constituencies will be the main consideration for final seat distribution.
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