NDA allies have almost completed seat sharing talks in Jharkhand: Himanta Biswa Sarma

The AJSU and JD(U) will contest the election with the BJP under the NDA’s banner, but no mention has been made of Chirag Paswan’s party LJP(RV); out of the 81 seats in the Jharkhand Assembly, sources in the BJP said the party would not give more than 10 seats to its allies

Updated - September 28, 2024 08:06 pm IST - Ranchi

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma greets Odisha Governor Raghubar Das during their meeting, at Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar on Friday. Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi was also seen.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma greets Odisha Governor Raghubar Das during their meeting, at Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar on Friday. Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi was also seen. | Photo Credit: ANI

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) joint in-charge for the Jharkhand election on Saturday announced that seat sharing among the allies of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had been finalised, and the announcement would be made after occasion of ‘Pitra Paksh’.

The All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) and the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) will contest the elections with the BJP under the NDA banner.

“We will have an alliance with the AJSU and JD(U) this election. The seat sharing of the alliance is 99% completed and talks on just one or two seats are left. Soon after Pitra-Paksh, we will announce the [details of] seat sharing,” Mr. Sarma said, while interacting with the media in Ranchi.

Also Read: Jharkhand Assembly election will be held on time, says CEC Rajiv Kumar

Pitra Paksha commenced on September 17 and will continue till October 2.

Mr. Sarma, however, did not mention the Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas (LJP-RV) led by Union Minister Chirag Paswan, which is part of the NDA at the Centre.

Earlier, during the national executive committee meeting of the LJP (RV) held in Ranchi in August, Mr. Paswan had announced that his party would contest alone if talks on the alliance were not fruitful. The LJP (RV) had also claimed that the party had a strong position in 14 Assembly seats in Jharkhand.

AJSU supremo Sudesh Mahato had a meeting with senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi in the presence of Mr. Sarma earlier this month. Party sources said the AJSU had demanded 16 seats. In the previous Assembly election, the AJSU was not a part of the NDA and had contested on 52 seats.

Similarly, the JD(U) led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has demanded 11 seats in Jharkhand, citing the party’s alliance with the NDA in Bihar.

Out of the 81 seats in the Jharkhand Assembly, sources in the BJP said the party would not give more than 10 seats to its allies, and that it would contest on about 70 seats.

The Assam CM spoke of the letter of September 26 from Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, in which the latter had asked for the classification of the ‘tea tribes’ of northeastern Assam as Scheduled Tribes (ST) instead of Other Backward Classes (OBC). Mr. Soren had said the tea tribes had been marginalised despite their significant contribution to the economy of the northeastern State, and expressed concern over the plight of 70 lakh people belonging to the tea tribes in Assam.

“Hemant Soren has written a letter to me and I will reply to him in writing. Hemant Soren himself knows the answer very well. The media should ask why Kalpana Soren cannot contest from any tribal seat. The answer lies in his own family,” Mr. Sarma said.

Ms. Kalpana Soren belonged to an ST community from Odisha and people from outside the State could not claim reservation under the scheduled categories in Jharkhand, Mr. Sarma said.

Twenty-eight seats are reserved for STs in Jharkhand. Ms. Kalpana Soren is the sitting MLA from the unreserved Gandey Assembly constituency.

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