By IANS,
Ranchi : Jharkhand’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) were Saturday locked in a war of words over the Jameshedpur Lok Sabha by-poll scheduled for July 1.
The Jamshedpur seat fell vacant as Chief Minister Arjun Munda quit it in February after being elected to the state assembly.
“BJP should support our party nominee in the by-poll. Our party had supported Munda in the Kharsawa assembly poll,” senior JMM leader and former deputy chief minister Sudhir Mahato said in Jamshedpur, where the party’s three-day executive committee meeting commenced Saturday.
JMM is likely to announce its candidate for the Jamshedpur seat by Sunday.
The BJP too is unwilling to back down.
“Traditionally, Jamshedpur is BJP’s seat. Our party won the Lok sabha polls in 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2009. We lost the Jamshedpur seat in 2004 and 2007 by-poll. How can we leave the seat,” BJP spokesperson Pradeep Sinha told IANS.
Same is the case with the two main opposition parties – the Congress and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P).
The parties fought the 2009 assembly polls together and won 14 and 11 seats, respectively, in the 81-member house. The Congress also supported JVM-P in the Kharsawa assembly by-poll against Munda.
“Our party has a large base in Jamshedpur. We are determined to fight the poll. The Congress should support us,” JVM-P legislative party leader Pradeep Yadav told reporters here Saturday.
The Congress, meanwhile, has invoked the concept of ‘coalition dharma’.
“JVM-P should maintain coalition dharma and support our party nominee,” the party’s state spokesperson Shailesh Sinha told IANS.