New Delhi: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is miffed over ally JMM announcing its candidate for the Rajya Sabha poll from Jharkhand but there is no threat to the alliance, the party said on Monday. “The Congress chief was expecting that we would get a chance to field our nominee for the coming Rajya Sabha poll. That is the assurance she got from chief minister Hemant Soren,” AICC in-charge of Jharkhand Avinash Pande told ETV Bharat shortly after he discussed the issue with the party president.
“We will have to see what was the JMM’s compulsion to announce their candidate. I have called a meeting of all senior state leaders and MLAs in Ranchi on Tuesday. We will review the matter there,” he said. The Congress leader’s remark came hours after Soren announced the candidature of JMM leader Mahua Maji for one of the two Rajya Sabha seats from the state.
The grand old party is part of the ruling alliance in Jharkhand comprising JMM, Congress and RJD. Two Rajya Sabha seats from Jharkhand will go to the polls on June 10. While the opposition BJP will get one seat, there was a tussle between the Congress and the JMM over who gets to field the candidate for the upper house of Parliament.
The Congress had got an assurance from the chief minister himself after Hemant Soren met with Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Saturday night. But the Monday announcement came as a shocker for the grand old party, said sources, adding that following the ally’s move Sonia Gandhi immediately summoned Pande to discuss the issue.
A section of the state leaders, including Youth Congress chief Abhijit Raj, urged Pande to withdraw support from JMM, saying the ruling party was afraid of the CBI and ED as its leadership was facing corruption charges. The RS poll issue as well as the alliance will now be discussed at length by the state leaders and MLAs, indicating there is tension between the alliance partners in the state.
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However, Pande played down the reported tension in the ruling alliance. “This is a Rajya Sabha poll only. We have to keep the government going till 2024,” he said. Among the probable names from the Congress includeds former union minister Subodh Kant Sahay, state leader Furkan Ansari, PCC chief Rajesh Thakur, and AICC general secretary Ajoy Kumar.
Explaining why the Rajya Sabha seat should have gone to the Congress, Pande said that the grand old party was in a better position to take on the BJP nationally as compared to the JMM. The Congress veteran pointed out that earlier the grand old party had given the RS seat to JMM founder and former chief minister Shibu Soren. “We would have been happy if the JMM leadership would have responded positively,” said Pande.
Sources said Congress had been pressing for a coalition candidate as two separate candidates from the ruling alliance would divide the votes. “It is time for the JMM to see the big picture. I had discussed the issue with the chief minister. We will again meet them,” said Pande. If it chooses to keep the alliance, the Congress may as a last resort, also announce its candidate, the sources added, while admitting that the window of opportunity was narrow, given that Tuesday is the last day for nominations for the June 10 poll.
