‘Hemant Soren, Congress differed on seat-sharing… Haryana results won’t impact Jharkhand polls’: Former state chief On BJP's allegations over “appeasement Congress leader and former Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) president Rajesh Thakur is a member of the ruling JMM-led coalition’s coordination committee with the status of a cabinet minister. A member of the state Congress’s election and campaign committees for the upcoming Assembly elections, Thakur has played a key role along with JMM leader and Chief Minister Hemant Soren and other INDIA bloc players in stitching up their electoral alliance.
In an interview with The Indian Express, he speaks on various issues relating to the polls including the Congress’s plans to take on the BJP. Excerpts: How will the coalition government’s performance impact the upcoming Based on surveys and feedback from our active members, we have understood that our government’s schemes, such as pension and direct benefit transfers to women, have worked on the ground and people are happy.
During the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi’s “Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra” and his slogan to “Save the Constitution” resonated with the people. We also announced one Lok Sabha candidate’s name and then withdrew it, which did not go down well among various But why are some Congress and CPI(ML) Liberation workers unhappy with the seat-sharing deal? In some seats, there seem to be “friendly fights” between the alliance partners, which may give an edge to the BJP.
The sad part is that ideology-based politics is out of fashion now. Everybody is worried about winnability, which is why people from the BJP and All-Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU) who were denied tickets have joined the JMM and will now contest the elections. From the JMM, (former CM) Champai Soren went to the BJP. In the Lok Sabha polls, one BJP candidate also joined the Congress.
But there are certain compulsions to which we have to cater. Having said this, the blame for this goes straight to the BJP as it is the number one player in “tod jod ki politics”. In the end whatever the resentment is among the alliance workers, it will wane as ultimately we have to work together for effective messaging and booth-level It is said that the alliance negotiations had not started on a positive note with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal and Hemant Soren differing on various issues against the backdrop of the Congress’s loss in Haryana.
The Haryana elections do not have any bearing on Jharkhand. Any alliance goes through certain problems and we resolve it peacefully. The idea was to ensure that an alliance happens, lacking which we would not have been strong in Jharkhand. I try to find positive solutions from negative issues. For instance, after the RJD’s press conference, I told (RJD MP ) Manoj Jha that it was good that he put out his views as it would charge up RJD workers, which would help us win the elections.
How do you respond to the BJP’s attacks on the Soren government over corruption and dynastic and If we talk about new faces, the BJP has the highest number of dynastic candidates. To name a few, former Union minister Arjun Munda’s wife Meera; former CM Raghubar Das’s daughter-in-law Purnima Sahu; ex-CM Champai Soren’s son Babulal; AJSU MP Chandra Prakash Choudhary’s wife Sunita and brother Roshanlal; BJP MP Dhullu Mahato’s brother Satrughan; and BJP MLA Indrajit Mahato’s wife Tara Devi.
Barring jailed Congress leader Alamgir Alam’s wife Nishat, we have not given a single ticket to any new dynastic faces. The JMM has given the tickets to two candidates (who are family members) of MLAs who vacated their seats because they became MPs. The BJP should not talk about corruption as Jharkhand’s first global investors’ summit (held under the previous BJP government in 2017) was mired in corruption allegations.
On appeasement politics, the BJP has been continuously saying that there is infiltration in the Santhal Pargana region, but the people are denying it. Even if they say so, isn’t the Union Ministry of Home Affairs accountable? This is a narrative to just polarise the electorate. The Congress has also denied tickets to a few sitting party MLAs. One of them, Umashankar Akela, has alleged