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BJP pins hopes on Palamau seat
Calcutta News.Net
Sunday 25th March, 2007 (IANS)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is toiling hard to have a Lok Sabha MP from Jharkhand by winning the Palamau by-election March 29 even as its key ally is looking the other way.
BJP and ally Janata Dal-United (JD-U) are divided over the by-election. The JD-U withdrew its nominee at the last minute but has stayed away from campaigning.
'The BJP does not need our help as it did not invite us to campaign in favour of its candidate,' said JD-U legislator Radha Krishna Kishore. Jawahar Paswan is the BJP nominee.
At present the BJP has no Lok Sabha MP from Jharkhand.
The Palamau seat fell vacant after the Lok Sabha expelled 11 MPs on charges of taking bribe. Manoj Bhuiya of RJD had won the Palamau seat in the 2004 Lok Sabha election.
Former chief minister Arjun Munda, state BJP president P.N. Singh and other leaders are campaigning in Palamau. BJP president Rajnath Singh will also campaign.
The party is getting the support of former assembly speaker Inder Singh Namdhari, who quit JD-U to support the BJP in the by-election.
The ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is also making efforts to retain the seat.
Ghuran Ram of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is a joint candidate of the Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and other parties. Union ministers of RJD like Lalu Prasad and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh will campaign for him.
Chief Minister Madhu Koda is also campaigning for the RJD candidate. 'UPA will win the by-election,' he asserted.
The Palamau election is seen as a commentary on the state government.
'The outcome will indicate the mood of the people as the UPA is ruling both in the state and in the centre,' said state BJP president P.N. Singh.
The by-election has become interesting with the foray of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM). JVM is headed by former chief minister Babulal Marandi, who quit BJP last year and trounced both the NDA and UPA in the Koderma Lok Sabha by-election in November.
Political experts say the Palamau by-election is a prestige issue for both the NDA and UPA leaders. The NDA's internal bickering and infighting within the BJP cannot augur well for the party, they say.
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