BJP riding ‘Modi Wave’ in Lohardaga PC in Jharkhand

Shashank Shekhar

Ranchi ( Jharkhand) : If PM Narendra Modi’s highly successful  roadshow at Ranchi  on April 23, 2019, night, followed by his big rally at Lohardagga  on April 24, 2019,  is any indication which party is more popular in Jharkhand, then the BJP is definitely riding the ‘Modi Wave’. The BJP leaders quite confident after PM Modi’s visit  declaring  that the party is ready to repeat its performance  of 2014 Lok Sabha polls when it had won 12 out of 14 seats in the state.

Although it remains to be seen whether the  big crowd presence can be transferred into votes or large crowd only came to watch the grand shows. Three parliamentary constituencies (PCs) of  Jharkhand :  Lohardagga, Palamu and  Chatra ,which go to poll on April 29, 2019, in the 4th phase of General Elections. For the BJP, the stakes are quite high as Union Minister Sudarshan Bhagat is contesting from Lohardagga), former director general of police and sitting MP B.D Ram from Palamu, and  sitting present MP Sunil Singh  from Chatra.

On the other hand, the Grand Alliance (Mahgathbandhan)  parties have joined hands  to contest on all these seats with Lohardagga seat going to Congress party which has fielded Sukhdeo Bhagat from Lohardaga while Palamu has gone to the fold of RJD which has fielded Ghuran Ram from there. From Chatra seat,  Congress has fielded  its old war horse Manoj Yadav while RJD has fielded  Subhash Yadav,  both from Grand Alliance.

Of these three PCs, Lohardaga is likely to witness the toughest of contest. Sudarshan Bhagat had won the seat  by a very small margin of 6,500 votes in 2014 defeating Congress candidate Rameshwar Oraon.

Lohardaga constituency has 12.10 lakhs voters of which  5.92 lakh are female voters while 6.18 lakhs are male voters. Sixty per cent of voters of this constituency are  tribal for whose votes both BJP and Congress candidates are striving hard.  The constituency also has sizeable  presence minority Christian voters on whose votes  Congress is relying heavily.

In 2014 LS elections, Chamra Linda, an influential tribal leader had also contested from here and had polled  more than 1.05 lakh votes. Rameshwar Oraon ( Congress) had lost the race by a small margin  as Linda  took away  thousands of Christian and tribal  votes paving way for the victory path of Sudarshan Bhagat.

In 2019 LS polls, an influential  congress  leader  Dev Kumar Dhan of Mandar has revolted  against the party to contest the polls causing discomfiture to the official congress candidate. Though there are 15 candidates in the fray but the main contest is between the Congress and BJP.

When contacted, Sudarshan Bhagat (BJP) said  that he  is sure to win the election as there is ‘Modi wave’  in Jharkhand. “Did not you see the huge crowd present at PM Modi’s roadshow at Ranchi and  even at his rally at Lohardagga. This is enough to tell you who is winning, “ claimed  the union minister.minister.

Congress candidate Sukhdev Bhagat said that even in the last election in which there was ‘Modi wave’,  Congress candidate had lost by less than 10,000 votes. “ After Raghubar Das  became the chief minister of Jharkhand,  the BJP party has not won  even 1  seat in the by-polls held during the last 4 years. With JVM, RJD and Congress joining hands in this poll, no one can stop me from winning this sea,t” claimed Sukhdeo.