BJP RISE OR REGIONAL CONTEST IN J&K?

IN JHARKHAND On an upswing after its Lok Sabha win, the BJP hopes its promises of stable government and development will see it through in the insurgency-wracked state

Jammu and Kashmir goes to polls the same day. The BJP is hoping to sweep Jammu, but its ‘Modi factor’ may face its biggest test in the Valley. Here, the elections are more likely to be about the future of the two regional powerhouses — the NC, facing a groundswell of anti-incumbency, and the PDP.

RANCHI: Fractured alliances are defining the scenario in the run-up to the Jharkhand assembly election with the ruling UPA coalition and the BJP-led NDA failing to forge tangible pre-poll formations.

At the centre of the courtship jostle was Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), persuaded simultaneously by its former ally the BJP as well as the UPA constituents — the RJD, the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).

The ruling partners, however, have parted ways.

The JMM has decided to go

TO MAKE MATTERS EASY FOR BJP, ITS RIVALS HAVE SPLIT INTO THREE CAMPS — ONE LED BY THE JMM, ANOTHER BY CONG AND THE THIRD BY JVM-P

alone, while the triad of the Congress, the RJD and the Janata Dal (United) plans to replicate its somewhat-successful Bihar experiment during the August bypolls to keep the BJP at bay.

The fracture was the result of a Congress decision to invite all non-NDA parties, including the BJP breakaway group JVMP, to form a mega alliance so that the Bihar bypoll model could be adopted. The initiative failed because the JMM blocked Marandi’s entry.

The JVM-P retaliated by refusing t o acce pt JMM’s Hemant Soren as the alliance leader and walked out.

The Congress tried to restore the alliance minus the JVM-P but parleys with the Sorens — Sibu and Hemant — on seat adjustment t riggered dissent within its own camp. Eventually, the two partners parted ways.

The BJP, riding the Narendra Modi wave, has been trying to woo back Marandi after luring seven of 11 JVM-P legislators to its fold.

But Marandi’s demand to make him the candidate for the CM’s post has proved to be a huge hurdle.

Battered by the desertions, the JVM-P has tied up with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, which is trying to expand its base beyond Bengal.

The BJP has found a partner in the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) Party, which is willing join hands for any number of seats above 10.

Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party, an NDA partner but a non-entity in Jharkhand, got a pie in the coalition with one seat to contest as BJP leaders felt that his clout among the Dalits would boost chances.

“Since alliances are falling apart, there is every possibility of post-poll tie-ups,” said political analyst VP Saran.