A former Minister in the Jharkhand government, Chandrashekhar Dubey, who left the Congress to join the All India Trinamool Congress on Sunday, said he will no longer support the Hemant Soren-led coalition in the Assembly.
Last week, Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch with one MLA Bandhu Tirkey and Rastriya Kalyan Pakshya (RKP) also with one MLA Chamra Linda merged with the Trinamool. Both legislators, however, said they would continue support to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress government in the Assembly.
The Trinamool said it would field Mr. Dubey from Dhanbad Lok Sabha seat, and Mr. Tirkey and Mr. Linda from the Ranchi and Lohardaga constituencies respectively — the maximum number of candidates fielded by the Trinamool from Jharkhand till now. Trinamool general secretary Mukul Roy said the party may contest all the 14 seats in Jharkhand.
Illegal mining
“I met Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee in her office for an hour. Ms. Banerjee had separated from the Congress over issues of corruption and I too had questioned Hemant Soren’s government why it handed over sand mining contracts worth Rs. 550 crore to two Mumbai companies, and encouraged illegal mining,” said Mr. Dubey, who was expelled from the Cabinet in February after he referred to Mr. Soren as a rakshasa (demon) and accused him of corruption.
Chamra Linda of the RKP said the two regional parties had merged with Trinamool as it had promised to raise tribals’ concerns in Parliament. “We met didi and she assured us support for our demands for a Sarna code and for a policy to reduce trafficking from tribal areas — issues which we felt the Congress was slow in responding to. We think she may emerge as the biggest regional party in the LS elections.”
JMM leader Shibu Soren’s brother and the party’s Bokaro district president, Lalu Soren, had also joined the Trinamool last week. The party has been in talks with MLA Geeta Koda, wife of Madhu Koda, who is going to contest the Singhbhum seat as a Jai Bharat Samanta Party candidate.
CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat said the Trinamool’s politics would open a new “chapter of corruption” in the State. “The Trinamool is trying to enter Jharkhand with money from scams such as the chit-fund scams. It is putting together a band of defectors,” said Ms. Karat in Ranchi on Monday.
