BRAJESH VERMA
Dumka, Oct 22: The coincidence of Jharkhand politics is that Dr Louis Marandi, who defeated Chief Minister Hemant Soren in the 2014 assembly elections as the BJP candidate from Dumka, has resigned and joined the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
The BJP wanted her to challenge Hemant Soren in the Barhet assembly constituency, but she declined citing it as an unfamiliar pitch for her.
Louis Marandi has cited the reason behind this as the BJP leaders ignoring her in the party, and also claimed that the BJP had promised to make her a candidate from Dumka once again in the 2024 assembly elections, but backed out at the last moment.
Pained by baseless allegations
In her resignation submitted to BJP state president Babulal Marandi, Louis Marandi said that not only was her hard work of the last 24 years ignored but also baseless allegations were made about her political life by promoting factionalism within the party in Dumka.
According to sources, ever since the BJP handed over the command of the state president to Babulal Marandi, there has been a lot of upheaval in the politics of Dumka and the entire Santhal Pargana. Babulal Marandi himself had separated from the BJP in 2006 and formed his new party Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, but when he failed continuously, he thought it better to go to the BJP again. The party trusted him and handed over the command of the state to him.
Louis can influence electoral politics in Dumka
But Louis Marandi remained associated with the BJP despite her continuous failure. Louis Marandi was the only Christian leader the BJP had in Santhal Pargana, but now after she joins the JMM, the political situation may change for the BJP. All the supporters of Louis Marandi in Dumka can influence electoral politics.
By the way, Assam Chief Minister Hemant Biswa Sarma, co-incharge of Jharkhand assembly elections, has already said that anyone going here and there will not have any impact, BJP’s objective is to win the election. General elections were being held in the country in 2024 during Babulal Marandi’s tenure as state president. Sitting MP Sunil Soren was given the ticket from the Dumka Lok Sabha seat, but suddenly before the nomination, Sunil Soren was removed and, in his place, Sita Soren, MLA from Jama of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, was given the Dumka Lok Sabha ticket. Sunil Soren was removed.
BJP factionalism in the Dumka region
The result was that there was so much factionalism in the Dumka region in the Lok Sabha elections that Sita Soren lost the election and she accused Louis Marandi of cheating. Sita Soren is the daughter-in-law of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha supremo Shibu Soren and sister-in-law of Chief Minister Hemant Soren. She came into electoral politics due to the sudden demise of her husband Durga Soren.
Also Read: BJP faces unrest in Jharkhand: Strategic exodus amidst ticket distribution chaos
But when the Jharkhand assembly elections were announced in 2024, Louis Marandi hoped that she would get an opportunity to try her luck once again. But there was so much factionalism in the party led by Babulal Marandi, especially in Dumka, that recently supporters of Louis Marandi and Sunil Soren stabbed each other.
When the list of candidates was released by the BJP, Sunil Soren’s name came for the Dumka seat and Sita Soren was sent to contest from Jamtara. Sunil Soren won his first assembly election from the Jama seat in 2005. He was also a worker of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in the Jama area earlier, but due to differences, the BJP made him contest from Jama against Shibu Soren’s elder son Durga Soren in 2005 and he won.
Sunil Soren defeated Durga Soren and Shibu Soren
The politics of Dumka has been very strange. Sunil Soren defeated Durga Soren from the Jama assembly constituency in 2005, then defeated Shibu Soren from Dumka in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Shibu Soren’s daughter-in-law Sita Soren snatched the ticket from Sunil Soren in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. But she lost the election. Louis Marandi defeated Chief Minister Hemant Soren in the 2014 assembly elections and is now going to contest on the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha ticket.
It is not yet decided whether Louis Marandi will be given a ticket from Jama or Dumka. Since Hemant Soren defeated Louis from the Dumka seat in 2019 and when a by-election was held on the same seat a year later, Hemant’s younger brother Basant Soren defeated Louis. Basant Soren is the sitting MLA of Dumka, so it is being speculated that Louis can be fielded from Jama. Louis Marandi entered electoral politics in 2009 but she was defeated by Hemant Soren in Dumka.
BJP wanted Louis to challenge CM
According to sources, since Louis Marandi faced defeats in Dumka in 2019 and subsequent by-elections, perhaps that is why the party did not give her a ticket this time. According to sources, the party had asked her to contest against Hemant Soren from the Barhet assembly constituency, but she backed out.
Clearing this, Louis said that when the top BJP leaders asked her to contest against Chief Minister Hemant Soren from Barhet, she backed out saying that she does not have any support base in Barhet. She does not even visit Barhet. She wanted to stay connected with the public, so she looked for a bigger platform.
Due to all the upheaval in the internal politics of the BJP during the tenure of Babulal Marandi, there is a stampede in the party at present. The BJP wants to form the government at any cost, but at the moment it seems to be surrounded by crises.
