Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to visit Dumka on September 3 to attend a membership drive of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and prepare a blueprint for the upcoming Assembly elections in Jharkhand. The State is slated to go to polls by the end of this year and the BJP here has intensified its membership drive in order to increase the strength of the party prior to the elections.
“He (Shah) is likely to pay a visit to Santhal Pargana in the first week of September. However, we have not received any confirmation on his tour yet,” said BJP’s Spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo.
Shah’s scheduled visit to Santhal Pargana assumes significance as the region is considered a stronghold of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) since the days of erstwhile Bihar. The region has three parliamentary constituencies and 18 assembly segments. Out of these 18 assembly segments, BJP could win only nine during the 2014 assembly elections. JMM won five of the remaining nine assembly seats.
BJP needs to strengthen its base in Santhal Pargana in order to achieve its target of winning more than 65 seats in the 81-member assembly here, say political gurus. The party has worked hard in winning the support of voters in the region since coming to power in December 2014. The result of party’s focus on Santhal Pargana and frequent visits of Chief Minister Raghubar Das to the region was visible in the recently concluded General Elections. BJP managed to win the Dumka parliamentary constituency by defeating JMM’s patriarch, former Chief Minister Shibu Soren.
However, Assembly elections could be a different ballgame as JMM has also intensified its poll preparations. Soon after the results of the 17th General Elections were announced, JMM, in an official statement said that it will avenge the defeat of its party’s supremo in the Assembly elections by winning all the 18 seats in Santhal Pargana.
This will be Shah’s first visit to Jharkhand since playing the protagonist in the scrapping of article 370 and 35a of the constitution. “His (Shah’s) visit to Santhal Pargana was planned as the party wants to leave no stone unturned in strengthening its roots in the region. He will stay in Dumka for a day leave for Delhi on September 4,” said an office bearer from BJP’s State headquarters in Ranchi.
Despite the monumental success of the BJP in the latest Lok Sabha polls, JMM won the Rajmahal parliamentary constituency. There are six assembly segments in Rajmahal – Rajmahal, Borio, Barhait, Maheshpur, Littipara and Pakaur. Out of the six assembly segments in the area, BJP had won only two –Rajmahal and Borio—in the 2014 Assembly elections. Out of the remaining four, JMM won three and Congress party won one. Moreover, the victory margin for BJP was less than 1,000 votes in Borio Assembly segment.
