By IANS,
Ranchi : The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Congress are facing dissention over the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha by-poll scheduled in the state July 1.
The JMM has fielded former deputy chief minister and senior party leader Sudhir Mahto in the by-poll which irked Suman Mahto, who was the Jamshedpur MP 2007-09.
In 2007, the party had awarded her the ticket after her husband Sunil Mahto, the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha member, was killed by Maoists. She won on the sympathy factor.
An angry Suman Mahto Monday joined the Trinamool Congress and will now fight the by-poll on the party’s ticket.
“I am disappointed. Money was taken into consideration while awarding the ticket,” she said after joining the Trinamool. She had lost the 2009 Jamshedpur Lok Sabha poll to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Arjun Munda, the present chief minister. The bypoll was necessitated after Munda quit his Lok Sabha seat and got elected to the state assembly in February.
The Congress is also facing dissention over awarding the ticket to Banna Gupta, its legislator from Jamshedpur East. He filed nomination papers Tuesday.
State Congress president Pradeep Balmuchu is unhappy over the decision as he wanted to fight the by-poll but was denied a ticket.
According to sources in the Congress, Balmuchu Monday went to New Delhi to meet party president Sonia Gandhi but failed to do so.
BJP nominee Dineshanand Goswami filed his nomination papers Tuesday in the presence of Munda and other senior party leaders.