In the Assembly bypoll in Jharkhand that would decide if chief minister Arjun Munda of the BJP gets to continue in the top post, the real battle is not between the ruling BJP-led coalition and the Opposition parties. The bypoll, slated for Thursday, has shaped largely as a battle between Mr Munda and JVM chief Babulal Marandi. With
campaigning for the bypoll for Kharsawan constituency in southern Jharkhand ending on Tuesday, both rival camps — Mr Munda of the five-party ruling alliance and Krishna Gagrai of the Opposition JVM-Congress alliance — exuded equal confidence in winning this crucial election. While Mr Munda still has the obvious edge by dint of being a chief minister, nightmarish memories of former CM Shibu Soren’s fall from grace in the Assembly bypoll in Tamar in January 2009 were hanging heavy in the ruling alliance’s campaign managers.
Mr Marandi, Jharkhand’s first chief minister, remains a pervasive influence in Kharsawan, where tribal votes always decide the winner. By ensuring Mr Gagrai as the united candidate of the Opposition, Mr Marandi has pooled in the organisational might of both his Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) and the Congress to build a powerful campaign against Munda, who currently represents Jamshedpur in the Lok Sabha. Despite Mr Munda having won in Kharsawan constituency thrice — in 1995, 2000 and 2005 — his campaign has been actively helped by his Cabinet colleagues and even JMM chief Shibu Soren himself. On Tuesday, Mr Munda was accompanied by his two deputy CMs — Hemant Soren of the JMM and Sudesh Mahto of the AJSU — to urge voters to elect him.