CONG UPSET OVER JHARKHAND CM CHEATING SONIA GANDHI

                    From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Congress is upset over Jharkhand chief minister Hemant soren going against his word to let the Congress as an ally of his government take a Rajya Sabha seat as he fielded his Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s women wing chief Mahua Manjhi as the ruling alliance’s Rajya Sabha candidate disturbing her calculations to field former Rajya Sabha Opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad from there.

The party has problems also in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Its calculations of winning three of the four seats in Rajasthan misfired as the BJP that had fielded Ghanshyam Tewari as its official candidate on Tuesday made Subhash Chandra of Zee TV group also field the nomination.

The big challenge is on Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot to ensure the party MLAs and independents vote for all three Congress candidates and do not get swayed by Subhash Chandra, who had won even last time from Haryana by manipulating votes and get 16 Congress votes rejected for change of ink allowed.

The Congress is facing similar peculiar situation in the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh where it has fielded Rajeev Shukla, AICC in-charge of Himachal Pradesh, and Ranjeet Ranjan, also an AICC office-bearer but from Bihar, annoying the party MLAs for not giving any seat to the locals.

In Maharashtra, the ruling alliance was in a clear position to win 4 of the 6 seats, but the Congress will have to struggle since the Shiv Sena has fielded two candidates — Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar — instead of agreed formula to contest only one seat.

There should not be cross voting in Maharashtra as the party leaders are angry at the leadership imposing the outsiders instead of giving at least one seat to the locals. The BJP has muddied the contest by fielding three candidates — union minister Piyush Goyal, former state minister Anil Bonde and former MP Dhanjaya Mhadik, despite having the strength in the Assembly to get only two of its candidates get elected.

A clear picture will emerge on June 2, the last date for withdrawals, while all the biennial elections are slated to be held on June 10.

You May Also Like