Koderma set to witness triangular contest

Shashank Shekhar

Ranchi ( Jharkhand) :  One of the smallest parliamentary constituency (PC)  of Jharkhand, ‘Koderma, comprising six assembly segments located in three districts : Giridih, Hazaribagh, and Koderma, is set to witness  a fierce triangular contest among  former chief minister Babulal Marandi (JVM),  former senior Jharkhand RJD minister  Annapurna Devi, who recently switched over to the BJP,  and  senior CPI (ML) leader Raj Kumar Yadav who is no pushover in this election. The six assembly segments under Koderma PC are : Koderma, Barkathha, Dhanwar, Bagodar, Jamua, and Gandey.

With 17.79 lakhs plus voters under its fold, Koderma has always been regarded  as strong bastion of the BJP whose candidate Ravindra Rai, who has been denied ticket this time,  had won this seat in 2014 LS polls by more than 98,000 votes defeating CPI(ML) candidate Raj Kumar Yadav while JMM candidate  Pranav Verma  was relegated to the third position. Ravindra Rai had polled  3.65 lakh votes was elected MP for the first time in 2014. Babulal  has been elected from this seat  twice  while Raj Kumar Yadav finished a close second twice from the seat.

Dominated by Yadav, Muslim and Mahtos, who account for 6.50 lakh votes, Koderma PC  also nests  1.50 lakh Bhumihars and  2 lakhs tribal and schedule caste besides  mixed population.

As Babulal Marandi is Mahagathbandan candidate and Ravindra Rai ( Bhumihar) has been denied  ticket, the former is hopeful of polling  most of the votes of Muslim, tribal, OBC, schedule caste and  even Bhumihar along with  good support  of Yadavs.

BJP candidate  Annapurna Devi  is heavily banking on BJP wave besides  Mahtos who have always been supporters of saffron party along  with  urban voters and youth besides Yadavs.

Raj Kumar Yadav is again banking on  his party cadre voters besides Yadavs which fetched him more than 2.65 lakh votes in 2014 election.

Annapurna Devi takes credit for  several developmental  works and projects  that have come up in Koderma including commissioning of  Koderma thermal plant  besides running of train services between Koderma and Hazaribagh along with  construction of good roads. “ I am known for my honest work in politics and joined the BJP seeing the good work done by PM Narendra Modi and the state government,” she said, adding at present 5 of the 6 MLAs  under Koderma  PCt are from BJP whose supporters are with her.  ” I don’t see any reason why I should not win this seat,” stated Annapurna Devi while talking to the reporter.

Refuting the claims of  Annapurna Devi, CPI(ML) candidate  Raj Kumar Yadav said that if the saffron party was so confident of  doing very good work why did it change  its sitting MP and gave ticket  to a turncoat who was with RJD. “ Look  infighting in BJP over Annapurna’s candidature  is known to all and as I have always stood by the people of Koderma, I don’t see  Annapurna cutting much ice here,” Yadav asserted.

While talking to the reporter , Babulal Marandi said that tall promises  were made by the BJPbut it has failed on all the fronts. “When I left BJP, I contested  this seat as an Independent and won the seat by a handsome margin and now Congress, RJD, JMM,  and JVM are contesting together and so I am sure to win this seat,” claimed  Marandi.