The Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Bihar’s ruling party led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, is foraying into neighbouring Jharkhand, where it lost ground after 2005.
Bihar Cabinet Minister and JD(U) Jharkhand in-charge Ashok Choudhary visited Ranchi last week to take stock. He announced a rally by Mr. Kumar in Ramgarh district on January 21.
The JD(U), which has no legislator in the Jharkhand Assembly, is planning to go solo in the State. In Bihar, the party is an ally of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which has one MLA in the Jharkhand Assembly.
“[Bihar] Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-ji will address a rally at Sido Kanhu Maidan in Ramgarh on January 21. We are making all efforts to regain the JD(U)‘s glory in Jharkhand. We believe that party has the potential because, till 2005, the JD(U) had as many as six MLAs in Jharkhand,” Mr. Choudhary told The Hindu.
The JD(U) contested 40 seats in the 2019 Jharkhand Assembly election but did not win even one. In the 2014 Jharkhand Assembly election, the party contested 45 seats but won none. Mr. Kumar has not campaigned in the State after 2005, which observers attribute as a possible reason for the party’s lack of success.
After Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar as a separate State in 2000, the JD(U) had a measure of success in the State. In the first Assembly election held in 2005, the party, as an ally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the time, fielded 18 candidates and won in six seats, with a vote share of 4%.
In 2005, the JD(U) won in the Assembly seats of Mandu (Khiru Mahto was its candidate), Baghmara (Jaleshwar Mahto), Tamar (Ramesh Singh Munda), Daltonganj (Indar Singh Namdhari), Chhatarpur (Radha Krishna Kishore), and Deoghar (Kameshwar Nath Das).
In the 2009 Jharkhand Assembly election, both its vote share and the number of seats it won declined. In an alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in that election, the JD(U) contested 14 seats and won only two. Its vote share fell to 2.78%.
“As of now, we are focusing on those seats where the party had MLAs and strongholds. It’s not only Ramgarh. There will be rallies of our leader [Mr. Kumar] in other districts as well. I must say that when the JD(U) became weak [in Jharkhand], the AJSU (All Jharkhand Students Union) led by Sudesh Mahto became stronger. So we are just working to regain strength of our part in Jharkhand,” Mr. Chowdhary said in response to a question on his party’s focus.
In the tribal State of Jharkhand, 22% of the population is Kurmis or Mahtos, 16% are Scheduled Castes, and 7%-10% are people from Bihar — the JD(U) is training its lens on the third section of voters.
Mr. Choudhary did not reveal his party’s Jharkhand plans for the upcoming Lok Sabha election. In the previous General Election, the RJD had contested in an alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Congress party.
