JMM names Baidyanath Ram; Congress seeks to calm alliance concerns

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Saturday named former minister and Latehar MLA Baidyanath Ram as its candidate for one of the two Rajya Sabha seats from the state, while Congress leaders moved to defuse alliance tensions ahead of the June 8 nomination deadline.

The announcement came amid friction within the ruling Mahagathbandhan after the Congress named party leader Pranav Jha as its candidate, triggering demands from sections of the JMM that the party should contest both seats.

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In a bid to maintain alliance cohesion, senior Congress observers Bhupesh Baghel and Ajay Sharma met Chief Minister Hemant Soren for nearly two hours on Saturday and asserted that Mahagathbandhan-backed candidates would win both seats.

“There is no deadlock. The atmosphere of discussions was cordial and both seats will be won by the Mahagathbandhan,” Baghel told reporters after the meeting.

Sharma also underlined the strength of the alliance, saying that while sentiments may arise within constituent parties, final decisions are taken by the leadership. He said discussions with the chief minister took place in a positive atmosphere and there was no confusion within the alliance.

The Congress leadership deputed Baghel and Sharma to Ranchi after several JMM leaders and legislators publicly expressed displeasure over what they viewed as a unilateral declaration by the Congress and argued that the party should field candidates on both seats.

Announcing Ram’s candidature, JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya described him as a committed party worker with strong grassroots connections. The decision ended speculation that a member of the Soren family could be nominated for the seat that fell vacant following the demise of JMM founder Shibu Soren.

Ram, a prominent Dalit face in the party and a former minister, is expected to file his nomination on June 8.

While JMM has announced its nominee for one seat, uncertainty continues over the second contest for which the Congress has already nominated Pranav Jha. The party on Saturday stepped up preparations for Jha’s nomination, with senior state leaders accompanying him to the Assembly secretariat to collect nomination papers.

Adding a fresh dimension to the contest, nomination papers have also been purchased in the name of industrialist and sitting Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh Parimal Nathwani. Nathwani represented Jharkhand in the Upper House for two consecutive terms between 2008 and 2020 before being elected from Andhra Pradesh in 2020.

The BJP has yet to announce its candidate, although party leader Gaurav Vallabh has also obtained nomination papers. The final shape of the contest is expected to become clearer once nominations are filed on Monday.

The arithmetic currently favours the ruling alliance. In the 81-member Assembly, the Mahagathbandhan commands 56 legislators, including 34 from the JMM, 16 from the Congress, four from the RJD and two from CPI(ML). The NDA has 24 legislators, while the Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM) has one member.

With nominations closing on June 8, the focus now shifts to whether the alliance settles on a common strategy for the second seat or whether additional candidates enter the fray, potentially complicating an election that appears straightforward on paper.