BJP not to field candidate in Mandu!

VIJAY DEO JHA

RANCHI

BJP will not field any candidate for the Mandu assembly by-election, authoritative sources in the BJP said. However, they remained cryptic on the issue of supporting either of the JMM and the JD (U).

“The party will not field any candidate. We don’t want to repeat Jamshedpur parliamentary by-election where JVM won due to the division of votes,” a senior office bearer of the party told the pioneer.

But the BJP has not been able to decide whether to support the JD (U), having pre-poll alliance under the NDA fold or the JMM which is a major partner in the BJP led coalition government.

Even if party’s local unit in Mandu and the Hazaribagh MP Yashwant Sinha strongly favoured party to contest the election on the ground that the party performed exceptionally well in the Mandu assembly segment in the last parliamentary election, state BJP leadership is aware of the embedded hazard in risking a direct contest.

“We can’t ignore the claim of JD (U) over Mandu that it got under seat sharing formula with the BJP. We can’t ignore the claim of the JMM since it had won the seat and also because of the reason that the JMM is a major ally in the government. If the BJP field any candidate it will annoy both the parties,” the leader said.

Highly placed sources in the party dropped thick hint about party’s proposed strategy during the by-election. The party may pose a very neutral approach and may not restrict its local unit to support and canvass for the candidate of its choice. But neutrality will not be an easy undertaking, though, the leader echoed the concern. Both JD (U) and the JMM have openly sought support from the BJP. During campaigning the BJP leadership specially Chief Minister Arjun Munda will have a tough time to keep both the sides happy. Supporting one will naturally be treated opposing other. Mandu matters more for the BJP than other JD (U) and JMM.