New Delhi: Fissures emerged in the I.N.D.I.A. bloc as the Samajwadi Party has followed the approach of “Ekla Chalo Re” (going solo) after being denied any seat by the JMM-led alliance in the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly polls. Left in the cold by the JMM-Congress seat-sharing pact, the party has announced 21 candidates for the elections in the tribal state.
The SP had demanded 12 seats in the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, which was refused by the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance, so the party decided to proceed with its own candidates in the Assembly polls.
Talking to this newspaper, SP Jharkhand unit chief Ranjan Yadav said the party has nominated candidates for 11 seats in the first phase — Girinath Singh from Garhwa, Umashankar Akela from Barhi, Raghupal Singh from Manika, Kamlesh Kumar Yadav from Huss-ainabad, Umendra Kumar Yadav from Bhanwathpur, Mamta Bhuiyan from Chhatarpur, Anju Singh Vishrampur, Ajit Yadav from Jamshedpur West, Rajkumar Yadav from Barkattha, Govind Bedia from Barkagaon and Suresh Kumar Kalindi from Kanke.
Party candidates have also been announced for 10 seats in the second phase — Akil Akhtar from Pakur, Daud Marandi from Maheshpur, Amrendra Kumar from Jarmundi, Sahadat Hussain from Rajmahal, Mahesh Kumar Malto from Boryo, Kajal Kumar Mahto from Sarath, Devanand Hajra from Jamua, Vijay Yadav from Nirsa, Azmul Ansari from Tundi and Suraj Mahto from the Baghmara seat.
He also said that denied seat allocation from the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, the party had decided to field its own candidates and has a fair chance of winning at least seven to eight seats. SP’s president Akhilesh Yadav is likely to hold rallies for the party’s candidates soon, he added.
Yadav also expressed confidence that the ruling alliance will come to power again and the Samajwadi Party will support the I.N.D.I.A. bloc. The JMM is contesting in alliance with the ruling Congress, RJD and the CPI(ML).
In the recently-held Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir elections, the Congress had not given a single seat to the SP. In Jammu and Kashmir, the party had fielded 20 candidates. In the Haryana Assembly polls, the Akhilesh Yadav-led party had decided not to field candidates.
