SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, March 5: The BJJP high command’s silence on the nominee for the Dhanbad Lok Sabha seat has deprived probable candidates and leaders of their night’s sleep.
Jharkhand has 14 Lok Sabha seats, and the BJP has announced candidates for 11 seats.
The candidates for Dhanbad, Giridih and Chatra have yet to be announced. Since Giridih’s seat is set to go to AJSU under the seat-sharing arrangement, sitting MP Chandra Prakash Choudhary is likely to be fielded again, tug war in the BJP is for Dhanbad and Chatra seats.
Caste equation
A senior leader of the state BJP said that deciding candidates for both seats has become precarious for the high command as both the sitting MPs, PN Singh and Sunil Singh, are maintaining a balance of caste equation in the state. “So, their candidature looks strong again,” he added.
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Three hopefuls for Dhanbad
The party sources said the state committee had sent three names for the Dhanbad seat: MP PN Singh, Dhanbad Sadar MLA Raj Sinha, and Bokaro MLA Biranchi Narayan.
In addition to them, based on party workers’ Rasumari (survey), three names, former mayor Chandrashekhar Agrawal, Baghmara MLA Dhulu Mahto, and state executive member Ganesh Mishra, have also been sent for consideration.
If the age bar is sidelined, the most popular candidate is three-time sitting MP PN Singh (74). He won the seat with over 4 lakh votes in 2019 and is still the most popular among people.
In Dhanbad, PN Singh has never lost an election, from Municipal to Lok Sabha, since 1988. He won the Dhanbad Sadar MLA seat thrice from 1995 to 2005 and the Lok Sabha seat from 2009 to 2019.
Dhanbad MLA Raj Sinha
Two-time Dhanbad Sadar sitting MLA Raj Sinha is also considered the favourite after PN Singh. He won the assembly seat last time in 2019 with a record margin. Besides Dhanbad, he has the support of Nirsa MLA Aparna Sengupta and Tara Devi, wife of Sindri MLA Indrajit Mahto, and Ragni Singh, wife of former Jharia MLA Sanjiv Singh. MLA Indrajit Mahto and former MLA Sanjiv Singh both are under treatment.
Since the party high command has denied tickets to two-time sitting Hazaribagh MP Jayant Sinha, Raj Sinha’s claim to the Dhanbad seat has become stronger based on the caste equation.
Bokaro MLA Biranchi Narayan has also emerged as a formidable candidate for the Dhanbad seat. However, party leaders said his support base is only in the Bokaro pocket of the Dhanbad Lok Sabha constituency. Most of the constituency falls in the Dhanbad area, where he has no personal influence.
Baghmara MLA Dhulu Mahto
Whereas the chance of ‘Rasumari’ candidates is concerned, three-time Baghmara MLA Dhulu Mahto has a strong base in the Baghmara region, which is part of the Giridih Lok Sabha constituency. He also needs a better rapport with Dhanbad, Sindri, Nirsa, and Bokaro party leaders to contest.
Moreover, Dhulu Mahto is facing over two dozen cases, and people of his area have been still sitting on indefinite fasting in Dhanbad against his atrocities.
Former mayor Chandrashekhar Agrawal is said to have the support of former chief minister and Odisha Governor Raghubar Das. BJP leaders said his chance is bleak because of the caste equation. Since the party has already given the ticket to Manish Jaiswal ( Vaisya community) from Hazaribagh, there is no chance of fielding two candidates from the same caste.
Third, Rasumari candidate Ganesh Mishra is a popular leader in the Nirsa assembly constituency, but his influence in Dhanbad Sadar, Sindri and Bokaro is nominal. However, he has a personal rapport with Dhanbad, Bokaro and Sindri MLAs to win.
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