SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, April 14: The Congress, after keeping its prospective candidates waiting for a long time, today declared to field Mahagama MLA Deepika Pandey to challenge Nishikant Dubey, considered a formidable BJP nominee in Godda.
Deepika, the first-time MLA, beat her rivals, Pradeep Yadav and Furqan Ansari, to bag the ticket. Yadav, a strong claimant to the ticket, is said to have missed the bus due to a case of sexual harassment pending against him.
Congress sidesteps Saryu Roy’s overture
The Congress sidestepped independent MLA Saryu Roy’s overture to support him in Dhanbad for defeating the BJP’s tainted candidate Dhulu Mahto and nominated Anupama Singh. It has fielded former minister KN Tripathi in Chatra, the seat also being eyed by the RJD. Anupama is the wife of Bermo MLA Anoop Singh.
The grand old party, however, is still deciding on its nominee from Ranchi. Old war horses Subodh Kant Sahai, Ram Tahal Chaudhary, and Health Minister Banna Gupta are in the race.
Chaudhary had joined the Congress hoping to get a ticket from Ranchi.
Under the INDI Alliance seat-sharing formula, out of Jharkhand’s 14 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress will contest seven, the JMM five, the RJD one and the CPI (ML) one seat.
Incidentally, Dubey defeated Pradeep Yadav twice, first in 2014 and again in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Yadav fought the last parliamentary elections on the ticket of the JVM, which Babulal Marandi then ran.
In 2014, Yadav came third, after BJP’s Nishikant Dubey and Congress’ Furqan Ansari. Yadav considered his protests for Godda farmers against the ‘forcible land acquisition for the Adani power project’ his biggest political asset.
Dubey eyes 4th term
Notably, Nishikant Dubey, the BJP’s poster boy for leading attacks on the Soren family over corruption and illegal land deals, is eyeing to retain his seat with a margin of nine lakh votes this time.
Dubey, during the past 10 years has ensured a place for Godda on the Indian railway map, a Union government-sponsored AIIMS, Deoghar airport, a 1,600-megawatt power plant, and a few other big-ticket projects.
He has emerged as the most vocal voice from the state BJP unit against the Soren family since the saffron camp faced rout in 2019, paving the way for the formation of the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance govt under Hemant Soren.
