Want to contest Jharkhand assembly polls as part of INDIA bloc: CPI

The Communist Party of India (CPI) is eyeing a “reasonable” number of seats to contest as part of the INDIA bloc in the upcoming assembly elections in Jharkhand, with the party preparing to field candidates in around two dozen seats, leaders said on Friday.

The party will hold a day-long meeting of the state unit in the state capital to deliberate on the party’s future strategy.

Addressing a press conference at the party office, CPI general secretary D Raja said the BJP is set to lose the Jharkhand assembly elections, and his party wants to be part of the INDIA bloc.

“In the Lok Sabha elections, we had expressed a desire to contest as part of this alliance, but it didn’t work out. I hope other parties in the INDIA bloc will do some serious introspection, and there should be mutual accommodation for all parties,” said Raja.

In response to a specific question about the number of seats they are eyeing as part of the alliance, Raja said he was looking for a ‘”reasonable” number. “We need to learn lessons from the past. Here, we are looking at reasonable seats. We have a long history where we have won in the past. We have a strong presence through trade unions and the Kisan Sabha. We will discuss with Soren and Congress,” he added.

Raja also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of poaching leaders from other parties and raking up issues like infiltration to polarise people ahead of the assembly polls in Jharkhand.

“The BJP and its conservative allies are targeting ruling parties in Jharkhand. In order to cripple functioning, they poach leaders from ruling parties if possible. This is happening in Jharkhand,” he told reporters here.

“On the issue of infiltration, if they are serious about it, the Union home minister should give an explanation to the country. Instead, they are targeting some states in order to create confusion and conflict among communities,” Raja alleged.

Meanwhile, state secretary Mahendra Pathak said the party was preparing to contest 20-25 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly. The CPI currently has no members in the existing assembly. Binod Singh of CPI-ML is the only legislator representing any Left party in the House.

While the CPI had expressed a willingness to contest the Hazaribag Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 general elections as part of the alliance, the INDIA bloc allotted the Koderma seat to CPI-ML. Bagodar MLA Binod Singh contested from Koderma but lost to Union minister Annapurna Devi.

People close to the developments said that while the induction of the CPI into the alliance is “difficult”, CPI-ML is set to get 2-3 seats, especially after the merger of the Maoist Coordination Committee (MCC) with CPI-ML.

“Following the merger, CPI-ML is eyeing at least four seats, including Bagodar, Dhanwar, Sindri, and Nirsa,” an insider said.

Cong to form coordination committee

The Congress on Saturday said a coordination committee would soon be formed to discuss the seat-sharing formula with allies in Jharkhand ahead of the assembly polls.

The announcement was made by AICC secretary Saptagiri Shankar Ulaka, who is also the Jharkhand co-incharge, after a meeting of the party here.

“A coordination committee will be formed after discussions with our general secretary, who is coming to Jharkhand on Sunday. The committee will deal with the seat-sharing issue (for the polls),” he said.

Ulaka said the party would declare how many seats it would contest after the panel members discuss the matter.

“The committee will decide the seats with the JMM and other parties that would contest under the banner of the INDIA bloc. We want the seat-sharing arrangement to be a win-win situation for all the allies in order to win the assembly polls,” he said.

The assembly elections are scheduled to be held later this year. The Congress had contested 31 out of the 81 seats in the 2019 polls in alliance with the JMM and RJD. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) had contested 43 seats and the RJD seven.