Winter of discontent begins for BJP in Jharkhand

“Abki baar, 65 paar. (This time we will cross 65).”

Ever since the BJP coined this slogan, with an aim of winning 65 out of 81 Assembly seats in Jharkhand, the ruling party has been facing dissensions and desertions galore.

Not only have trusted allies like AJSU and LJP dumped the BJP, senior party leader and a minister in Jharkhand Government Saryu Rai has also resigned from the BJP, severing his three-decade-old tie with the saffron camp.

Rai on Sunday announced that he would contest from Jamshedpur (East) against Jharkhand CM and sitting MLA Raghubar Das.

A veteran BJP legislator since 1998, Rai is an MLA from Jamshedpur (West) in the outgoing Assembly and is presently Food and Civil Supplies Minister in the Jharkhand Government. On Sunday, he resigned from the party after he was denied ticket from Jamshedpur (West), reportedly due to his differences with the Chief Minister.

Rai is no run-of-the-mill politician. A hardcore BJP leader who first became an MLC (in 1998) before becoming an MLA from Jamshedpur (West) in 2005 and later a Minister, Rai has been instrumental in sending two former Chief Ministers – Lalu Prasad and Madhu Koda – to jail. While the former Bihar Chief Minister was jailed in the fodder scam, the ex-Jharkhand CM, Koda was put behind bars in the mining scam.

In both cases, the anti-corruption crusader Rai was the whistle-blower.

“The BJP has shown its true colours by denying a ticket to an honest leader like Rai, who has always exposed corruption,” said Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) working president Hemant Soren, who has pledged support to Rai, if he decides to contest the poll.

November 18 is the last day for filing nominations for Jamshedpur (East) as well as Jamshedpur (West), where voting is slated for December 7.

Jharkhand will have a five-phase poll between November 30 and December 20. Counting of votes will take place on December 23.

But then Rai is not the only one to dump the BJP even before the first vote has been cast for 2019 Assembly poll. Two of its trusted allies – the AJSU (All Jharkhand Students’ Union) and the LJP have already decided to sever ties with the BJP and go it alone.

While AJSU, which won five out of eight seats it contested in 2014, is fielding its nominee on 25 seats, the LJP may field its candidates on 50 constituencies. The third ally, the JD (U), has already declared to go it alone in Jharkhand, claiming that it has nothing to do with the BJP outside Bihar.

The desertions provide the clearest evidence that winter of discontent has begun for the BJP, which recently fared below expectations in Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly polls, before losing its oldest ally Shiv Sena last week.