JVM jangles mighty in Jamshedpur *
Strap—No mandate against government, people expected us to stay united:Munda
VIJAY DEO JHA
Strap—No mandate against government, people expected us to stay united:Munda
VIJAY DEO JHA
Ajay Kumar of the JVM grabbed the strobe-lights with his rampage run in theJamshedpur parliamentary by-election thus hammering the political ambitionof the BJP, JMM, AJSU and the Congress with his stunning surge.
BJP state president and candidate Dineshananda Goswami’s maiden push forparliamentary election to regain Jamshedpur was so firmly repulsed that hemay not have an opportunity to recover, he has already submitted his fate to resignation. “I accept the verdict. I don’t knowwhat went wrong but I will resign from my post,” Goswami said.
Soon after the result coalition Chief Minister Arjun Munda held a pressconference refusing to accept that the result is a kind of mandate againstthe government.
“People expected the coalition partners to field a common candidate. We didnot press for it since we had no such pre-poll alliance. If you see thepercentage of votes that the coalition partners have garnered; thegovernment has not lost the election. There are certain other factors,”Munda said.
But some vital reasons of defeat were beyond the articulation of Munda. TheBJP’s pride cohesion of view and machinery became victims of various degreesof chaos. The dispute over candidature and BJP’s failure to prevent opendiscord or to discipline it, littered across the segments of Jamshedpurconstituency—Bahragora, Potka, Jamshedpur East and West; where it lostsubstantially against the JVM.
The message that widely traveled among the voters about the BJP was not thatof a cohesive alternative, it was the message of a party mired in its ownchaos, contradiction, conspiracy and confusions.
BJP probably confronted a much more complex set of challenges and respondedpoorly. “We started our preparation casually as if we are winning andelection is a mere formality. It is party organisation that contestselection. In Jamshedpur there was no party organisation since theorganisational elections were kept in abeyance. Larger view among the partyworkers was that Goswami is contesting as Chief Minister Arjun Munda’scandidate. He was snubbed by the voters and workers too,” a senior partyleader said.
Did Munda and Co. misread Ajay Kumar as politically too anodyne? BJP’s hopeof victory rested on a very confusing and dangerous notion about thedivision of Opposition’s vote. The probably missed to notice that the JVMchief Babulal is a macro manager who could play a political retailer also.
Kumar encashed his past popularity as a strict cop among the urban voters;Marandi stitched behind him the rural and tribal support. With around fivelakh tribal voters; Marandi had an open field to foray. Munda could devotelittle time to campaign. State Congress Pradeep Balmuchu remained neutraland negative in campaign with ominous grunts against his party candidateBanna Gupta. And when the result was declared Kumar had already set a newrecord by winning the Jamshedpur election by a margin of 1,55,726 votes;leaving Munda’s previous record far behind.
The Congress’ big claim as sole claimant of Muslim and urban votes liessplintered. Netting around 49,137 votes Banna was pushed to fifth positionafter the AJSU. AJSU despite the defeat has some reason to rejoice with99,058 votes. It is an unexpected expansion of the base of the AJSU.
The Congress can seek comfort in the deep discomfiture of the BJP. But thefine-print has created scramble and a blame game. “It the party has lostdeposit it is because some of the party seniors including Balmuchu haddecided so,” a senior party leader said. But a few things have made themwary. Babulal Marandi is more on “ekla chalo” note indicating seriousoverview to get rid of the compulsion of coalition politics with theCongress. The Jamshedpur result has added spokes in our wheels. “Let theassembly election come we will contest all 81 seats in Jharkhand,” JVMgeneral secretary Praveen Singh said.
Both the parties have publicly undertaken to review what went wrong withtheir respective challenges. Munda promised a review in the coming days, theCongress is set to boil with a review meeting the next week.
If there was a single message the election result handed over to thenational players, the regional players like JVM and the AJSU will hold-upthe ambitions of national parties. Nevertheless, for the JMM, a prominentregional party the election result brought stunning surprise. Its coretribal and Mahto constituents have drifted towards and JVM and the AJSUrespectively.
Even if coalition partners have lost miserably in this big-ticketparliamentary by-election, the government will remain safe. Munda hasassured this. Probably the ghost of Marandi will keep the flock together.For the BJP it is not an end. Having brought the party to its lowest perch,its leader may now have enough time and space to ponder for lowly as it is,this perch is also a lonely place.
EoM
=================
Soon after the result coalition Chief Minister Arjun Munda held a pressconference refusing to accept that the result is a kind of mandate againstthe government.
“People expected the coalition partners to field a common candidate. We didnot press for it since we had no such pre-poll alliance. If you see thepercentage of votes that the coalition partners have garnered; thegovernment has not lost the election. There are certain other factors,”Munda said.
But some vital reasons of defeat were beyond the articulation of Munda. TheBJP’s pride cohesion of view and machinery became victims of various degreesof chaos. The dispute over candidature and BJP’s failure to prevent opendiscord or to discipline it, littered across the segments of Jamshedpurconstituency—Bahragora, Potka, Jamshedpur East and West; where it lostsubstantially against the JVM.
The message that widely traveled among the voters about the BJP was not thatof a cohesive alternative, it was the message of a party mired in its ownchaos, contradiction, conspiracy and confusions.
BJP probably confronted a much more complex set of challenges and respondedpoorly. “We started our preparation casually as if we are winning andelection is a mere formality. It is party organisation that contestselection. In Jamshedpur there was no party organisation since theorganisational elections were kept in abeyance. Larger view among the partyworkers was that Goswami is contesting as Chief Minister Arjun Munda’scandidate. He was snubbed by the voters and workers too,” a senior partyleader said.
Did Munda and Co. misread Ajay Kumar as politically too anodyne? BJP’s hopeof victory rested on a very confusing and dangerous notion about thedivision of Opposition’s vote. The probably missed to notice that the JVMchief Babulal is a macro manager who could play a political retailer also.
Kumar encashed his past popularity as a strict cop among the urban voters;Marandi stitched behind him the rural and tribal support. With around fivelakh tribal voters; Marandi had an open field to foray. Munda could devotelittle time to campaign. State Congress Pradeep Balmuchu remained neutraland negative in campaign with ominous grunts against his party candidateBanna Gupta. And when the result was declared Kumar had already set a newrecord by winning the Jamshedpur election by a margin of 1,55,726 votes;leaving Munda’s previous record far behind.
The Congress’ big claim as sole claimant of Muslim and urban votes liessplintered. Netting around 49,137 votes Banna was pushed to fifth positionafter the AJSU. AJSU despite the defeat has some reason to rejoice with99,058 votes. It is an unexpected expansion of the base of the AJSU.
The Congress can seek comfort in the deep discomfiture of the BJP. But thefine-print has created scramble and a blame game. “It the party has lostdeposit it is because some of the party seniors including Balmuchu haddecided so,” a senior party leader said. But a few things have made themwary. Babulal Marandi is more on “ekla chalo” note indicating seriousoverview to get rid of the compulsion of coalition politics with theCongress. The Jamshedpur result has added spokes in our wheels. “Let theassembly election come we will contest all 81 seats in Jharkhand,” JVMgeneral secretary Praveen Singh said.
Both the parties have publicly undertaken to review what went wrong withtheir respective challenges. Munda promised a review in the coming days, theCongress is set to boil with a review meeting the next week.
If there was a single message the election result handed over to thenational players, the regional players like JVM and the AJSU will hold-upthe ambitions of national parties. Nevertheless, for the JMM, a prominentregional party the election result brought stunning surprise. Its coretribal and Mahto constituents have drifted towards and JVM and the AJSUrespectively.
Even if coalition partners have lost miserably in this big-ticketparliamentary by-election, the government will remain safe. Munda hasassured this. Probably the ghost of Marandi will keep the flock together.For the BJP it is not an end. Having brought the party to its lowest perch,its leader may now have enough time and space to ponder for lowly as it is,this perch is also a lonely place.
EoM
=================
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