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JMM fields son of soil, Left unity in tatters
The JMM on Monday announced the name of Jai Prakash Patel, the younger son of late Teklal Mahto, as the official candidate of the party for the Mandu Assembly by-election.
Making this announcement, Deputy Chief Minister and JMM leader Hemant Soren appealed to coalition partners JD(U) and the BJP not to field their candidates in the election.
“I appeal to all coalition partners to support us in the by-election and present a united front before the Opposition,” Soren said.
For Jai Prakash, it will be a tough fight to maintain JMM’s hold on Mandu which his father had won for a record number of four times in consecutive Assembly elections from 1990 to 2009 for the party.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arjun Munda is in New Delhi where he is expected to meet BJP president Nitin Gadkari to discuss whether the party should field any candidate from Mandu or to stay neutral in the wake of the JD (U) and the JMM having sought its support. BJP MP from Hazaribagh, Yashwant Sinha, has demanded the party field a candidate in the seat.
Late on Sunday evening JD(U) candidate and party president Khiru Mahto visited State BJP president Dineshananda Goswami and appealed for support.
As far as Left parties are concerned there seems to be no consensus among the leaders of the respective parties regarding fielding of a common candidate. The CPI(ML) has announced the candidature of Chandranath Bhai Patel. Following the announcement of the CPI(ML), the CPI has announced to field its own candidate.
State CPI general secretary and former Hazaribagh MP Bhuneswar Prasad Mehta said that the party sent the name of Mahaveer Manjhi to the Central leadership for ticket. Sources in the CPI said the party is in touch with the Marxist Coordination Centre to field a common candidate after the unilateral announcement made by CPI(ML).
