Assembly elections are going to be held in 5 states of the country within the next few days. All the political parties are busy in their respective preparations. Meanwhile, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has taken a big decision that it will contest the elections alone in Assam. In this regard, a list of 21 candidates has also been released. Congress and JMM had contested the Jharkhand assembly elections together. In such a situation, the decision to contest elections alone in Assam has increased the concern of Congress.
Congress has expressed concern over the decision of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. JMM has fielded its candidates on 21 seats for the elections to be held on April 9 in Assam.
From the very beginning, Congress wanted that it and JMM should contest the Assam elections together, so that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could be defeated. But, JMM decided to contest the elections alone, due to which Congress fears that the tribal vote may get divided. BJP can benefit from this.
Congress leaders told that they had also offered to give 57 seats to JMM, but things did not work out. JMM now wants to strengthen its hold outside Jharkhand, hence it is contesting elections in Assam. Especially she wants to establish her influence among the tribals and tea garden workers.
The aim of Congress and JMM is to defeat BJP, but by contesting elections separately, the risk of division of opposition votes has increased.
Congress leader Rakesh Ranjan said that the party was hopeful that JMM would contest the elections as part of the opposition alliance. He said, "We wanted to fight the Assam elections together. Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi had come to Jharkhand with other senior leaders and we were hoping for an alliance with JMM. However, the party decided to field 21 candidates alone, which could lead to division of tribal votes."
Jharkhand Congress president Keshav Mahato Kamlesh said his party had made “serious and positive efforts” to align with JMM. The seats on which Jharkhand's ruling party JMM is contesting in Assam include Majbat, Vishwanath, Khumtai, Chabua, Gosaigaon, Rangpara, Margherita, Naharkatiya and Titabor.
