New Delhi, Apr 30 (PTI) The Congress has the right to seek one Rajya Sabha seat in Jharkhand from the JMM and the top leadership will soon speak with Chief Minister Hemant Soren about it, AICC Jharkhand in-charge K Raju said on Thursday.
Raju said that in the last three Rajya Sabha elections, there was one seat for taking in the state and the JMM took it each time.
“This time we have the numbers for two seats, so we have the right to request one seat. At the highest level, we will speak with Hemant Soren ji soon and request for it,” Raju told PTI.
There are two Rajya Sabha seats up for grabs for the ruling alliance, with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha founder (JMM) Shibu Soren having passed away last year and BJP’s Deepak Prakash set to retire in June this year.
The Hemant Soren-led ruling alliance in Jharkhand has 56 MLAs in the 81-member assembly.
After the JMM, which has 34 MLAs in the House, the Congress is the biggest partner in the coalition with 16 legislators.
On reports of tensions between the JMM and the Congress in running the government in Jharkhand, Raju said there are two aspects to it and at the party level, there are no problems in ties between the two parties.
“We regularly meet Hemant Soren ji, there is coordination as well. Whenever he calls an MLAs’ meeting, he invites the AICC in-charge and I go there. There is no problem,” Raju said.
But on issues of the people where the administration has failed to deliver justice, the Congress has decided that it will not keep quiet just because it is part of the government, he said.
“We have decided that we will stand by the people and make the administration respond to the people’s issues. We will take up people’s issues. What are the issues of the people? There are issues of land acquisition, displacement, mining lobby. On all these issues, we will hold the administration accountable,” he said.
This will help the government perform better and will also be good for the alliance, he said.
This is creating an impression that all is not well between these two parties, but at an ideological and party level, the two are fine, he added.
Raju accused the BJP of using the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to disenfranchise SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities.
He asserted that as AICC Jharkhand in-charge, he has taken several steps to prepare the people for the SIR and ensure that not a single vote is cut mischievously in the state.
“In Jharkhand, tribals voted for the JMM or the Congress, they did not vote much for the BJP. So, the BJP is definitely going to target tribals and delete their votes because that way they can improve their prospects of winning many constituencies,” Raju claimed.
“Therefore, our focus is that not a single tribal vote is deleted. We are going to take care of that,” he said.
“Regarding the SIR issue, I want to categorically state that it is unconstitutional, and people’s names have been removed from the voter lists in an illogical manner,” Raju said.
The SIR is nothing but a conspiracy to disenfranchise a large number of voters, he alleged.
In Jharkhand, tribal communities will face the greatest difficulties as they often lack proper documentation and there is large-scale migration, he said.
“In light of this, we have been preparing for the SIR exercise for the past six months. While we oppose the SIR exercise itself, we are simultaneously striving to ensure that not a single name of our voters is struck off the rolls,” he said.
“We have strived hard to appoint a booth level agent (BLA) at every polling booth. In most booths, this process will be completed within the next two weeks.
“Subsequently, committees have been constituted in every panchayat to monitor the work of the BLAs as well as the SIR process. We have also decided to organise ‘Block Samvad’ (block-level dialogue). Through these dialogues, we are providing comprehensive training to the BLAs regarding the SIR process,” Raju said.
He said the Congress is establishing SIR committees at both the state and district levels in Jharkhand.
“In several states, the BJP has managed to have people’s names removed from the voter lists by using Form 7. We have alerted our cadres regarding this matter and will thwart any such attempts in Jharkhand,” he asserted.
According to officials, the Election Commission may roll out the third and final phase of SIR in the remaining 22 states and Union territories, including Jharkhand, after the elections to the five assemblies this month. PTI ASK DIV DIV
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