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A Close Finish On The Cards | Jharkhand

With the Congress-led opposition stitching together a grand alliance to consolidate the anti-BJP vote, the saffron camp faces a credible challenge.

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On March 24, when the Rashtriya Janata Dal's Jharkhand chief Annapurna Devi skipped the mahagathbandhan press conference held at Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) supremo Shibu Soren's Ranchi home, it was seen as a mark of protest against her party being offered just one Lok Sabha seat despite its demand for at least two. But Devi had other plans.

Barely two hours after the press briefing, she met Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das at his official residence. The next day, accompanied by Das, Lalu Yadav's once-trusted aide arrived at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, where party president Amit Shah welcomed her entry. Now, Annapurna Devi is tipped to contest from the Koderma or Chatra Lok Sabha seats. If she contests from Koderma, she will pose a huge challenge to Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) (JVM-P) chief Babulal Marandi, a likely candidate.

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For the mahagathbandhan, the incident has come as a loss of face right at the start of its campaign to oust the BJP, which bagged 12 out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in 2014. The grand alliance is led by the Congress, which is contesting seven seats. The JMM has been allotted four seats, JVM(P) two and the RJD one seat. However, for the assembly election slated later this year, the alliance will be led by the JMM.

Mahagathbandhan leaders believe that by teaming up, the Congress, JMM and JVM(P) will put up a credible fight against the BJP. In the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, the Congress tied up with the JMM while the JVM contested on its own. While the JMM won two of the four seats it contested, the Congress lost all its nine seats. The JVM(P), too, drew a blank. "Things have changed in 2019. There is no Modi wave. We are confident that Congress-JMM-JVM(P) will pack a punch," says a senior Congress leader in Ranchi. "In the 2014 election, the three parties had a combined vote share of over 35 per cent."

Easier said than done. Since its creation in 2000, Jharkhand has witnessed three Lok Sabha polls. Of these, the anti-BJP parties performed well only in 2004. The Congress, JMM, RJD and the Communist Party of India together won 13 Lok Sabha seats. But the BJP turned the tables in 2009, winning eight seats and further strengthening its position in 2014, grabbing nearly 41 per cent of the vote share.

Five of the state's 14 seats are reserved for tribals, who form 26.2 per cent of the population. The BJP is contesting 13 seats this time. The party has allocated the Giridih seat to ally Sudesh Mahto's All Jharkhand Students Union. While the BJP may have started the campaign as the most formidable player, trends from the past three years show anti-incumbency building up against Das. Tribals were up in arms against his government's attempts to bring in laws perceived as diluting their land rights. The anti-conversion bill floated in August 2017 was seen as a bid to divide the tribal community on religious lines. The BJP and its allies have lost six of the seven assembly bypolls held since December 2015. The BJP's only success was in Godda in May 2016. The Kolebira assembly bypoll held last December was won by the Congress.

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